Maria:
Well, after 19 months of basically staying away from the “sea of humanity”, I decided to venture to San Sebastian for a getaway. Even though I’ve been working, I wanted and needed a change of venue. No, I’m not staying in the haunted house. I know you thought that was all too silly, but it really happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re haunting a person or two these days as well just for the hell of it. You always enjoyed a little mischief – “muahahaha”. And speaking of mischief … no, don’t worry, I won’t go there.

Remember that time when we went to Mascota in the “fun car” and were walking down the street, and an elderly lady came up to us and started chatting with us and asked us over for a cocktail? We were so surprised and immediately fell in love with her and the town. And all those times zipping through Vallarta with the top down – you refused to be in the car if the top was up. And 80’s music was always blaring -- I still listen to the CD you made for me. You were like a Prom Queen on a parade float in that car … laughing, singing, waving at bystanders.

How about when we almost got stuck in Mexico City with Tom and Vicky because the flight was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t showing on a board, it wasn’t at any of the gates. Yeh, it was that flight that we got on that airline (no, the OTHER one) and the tickets were literally like $9 USD … ROUND-TRIP! It was a cattle call, but you were SO happy to turn me onto this great way of traveling for basically nothing, since you always said I was too “fluffy” the way I liked to travel. And look what happened. You flew Business Class the first time to Madrid and I couldn’t get you out of a biz class “pod” to save my soul. You adopted fluffy travel like it was your idea.

And oh boy did you change your tune on red wines when properly introduced. You totally got me with the Albariños though. (Hating that poor sentence structure right now, aren’t you?) But when it came to reds, you were putty in my hands. I gotta say, you are probably the all-time winner with that Pedro Jimenez “jerethz” recommendation. And “how much fun” did we have with our favorite sommelier and the “secret wine”? I can’t mention the restaurant or our somm as then there’ll never BE secret wine again. And we NEED secret wine!

And speaking of food. OH THE FOOD! Did we eat! O M G! I LOVED how we enjoyed our meals. Fancy. Cheap. And everything in between. We went out, what, 2?, 9? times a week? Remember how it would annoy everybody that while we were sitting down at a meal, ANY meal, we’d be thinking, planning and making reservations for the NEXT meal? And perhaps the next TWO meals? And don’t forget breakfast wine. Yep – a nice little Maria-ism invented en La Roma at that cute little bistro. But mollejas – “really?”

And trips! We both agreed that planning the trip was sometimes just as much fun as actually going on the trip. And the spreadsheets. THE SPREADSHEETS! I remember one of my first big trips, I told you how crazy I was about organizing my trips and that I actually created Excel spreadsheets. And you were like, ME TOO! And then you sent me yours. And I was jealous! And then I had to adopt some of your systems (like including the reservation numbers, in addition to just the date/time info) of a flight or car service or restaurant because it was WAY better! And that time when I was on a cruise and you were traveling through Italy with Pam and Mark and it turned out we were going to be in the very same teeny tiny itsy bitsy town for 6 hours – so we booked lunch? And then you bought that piece of jewelry afterward because we all got smashed on Aperol Spritz’? (Those things are still nasty, by the way.)

How about the fact that you were the life of the party – ANY party – EVER! Even if it WASN’T a party or SUPPOSED to be a party, you were the life of it. Oh, and when you’d call any of the most popular restaurants in town on any of the busiest days of the year and say, “Hola, [enter name of maitre’d or owner], soy Maria” … and you’d have a table in 15 minutes, even if they were full. How about that when you took a stand, it was going to take an act of God to get you to change your opinion? And cigarettes? Best challenge ever to come your way! You’re welcome! What about all the times that you stood up for your friends even when they didn’t even know how, or that they should, stand up for themselves. Or the fact that you were a technological geek and somewhat wizard and thought anybody who owned anything other than an Apple product “lived under a rock” or was “a Flintstone” (insert photo of ME). Shall we mention that you were likely the smartest person I had ever known in real life, other than perhaps Harold, our rocket scientist friend. What about your ability to create friendships that ran deep and were timeless? “Who does that?” And you were always the person that came up with the ideas for work events, because you did NOT need another meeting or boring work thing to do. How you hated shopping, but would buy anything online and have it shipped, because it would just arrive at your door. And that you knew virtually every taxi driver (and almost always their family) in town BY NAME … and they knew you BY NAME … because you didn’t drive and never had … EVER.

And ALL those times that you stood up for Mexico, the culture, the way of life, and most importantly, its people! You were a singular force of nature.
But the joke is over. Because this is getting old. I call, but you don’t pick up the phone. I text, but you don’t respond. I talk to you, but I don’t get an answer. It’s been a year. Enough is enough. Time to come out now and say “SURPRISE”.

That’s my Maria. Stubborn, just to prove a point. Our quarter of a century, give or take, of friendship, adventures and shared life experience, seems like a moment in time … while the rest of it will seem like an eternity. And yes, after I cry a bit more, I will “suck it up”. And if it’s OK, I’ll keep missing you.

Olive Juice!