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There Is Still Plenty of Life to Live

By The Artful Woman
Lately, it has been hot, so I decided to do something that would make life a little easier. I cooked a bunch of different meals in the crock pot, put them into containers, and froze them. That way, when the weather is hot, I wouldn't have to do much cooking. Then a flyer came in from the local Mexican market. They had pineapples, plantains, mangoes, watermelon, cucumbers—fresh fruits and vegetables at really good prices. They also had beef shanks. So after the gym, I had my caretaker take me to the store. I already had plenty of food at home. I had meals in the freezer, food in the refrigerator, and everything I needed. I wasn't going to the store because I was running out of food. But when I got there, something happened. I felt happy. The store was colorful and full of fresh food. I could choose one of this, two of that, three of something else. I wasn't limited to whatever quantity happened to come in a package. I could actually look at what I wanted and decide what I wa...
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Tequila, Trouble, and a Higher Power: Our Mexican Nightmare

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By The Artful Woman


 When my friend and I were underage, we decided to take a trip to Ensenada, Mexico, to party. We were so naïve, and like rookies, we went straight to Hussong's Cantina to take shots. My friend was much better at drinking than I was, and she kept ordering shot after shot, pushing me to drink more. After a while, I got so drunk that I just wanted to go back to our hotel room. But she kept insisting on dragging me downstairs to party more.

At that point, I blacked out completely. We ended up getting into a huge fight because she wouldn’t listen to me. I was way too drunk for someone my age, especially being in Mexico. The situation escalated to the point where we had a physical altercation, and we were kicked out of our hotel room. That’s when the federales got involved, and we were told we had to leave Mexico. Somehow, we both lost our wallets and money in the chaos, and we just grabbed whatever we could before being forced to leave.

Even though my friend was just as drunk as I was, she drove us back toward Tijuana. She was pretty scratched up, with a black eye, and I could barely function. I’m pretty sure I had alcohol poisoning at that point. I think my friend had pot on her, and we ended up having our car confiscated at the border. I don’t even know how we made it to the border, and I don’t remember all the details—everything is a blur. I passed out on the grass once we crossed, throwing up, while my friend somehow found a way to get to a bank, withdraw money, and rent a car. She told me she met a homeless guy along the way who forced her to give him the food she had just bought from McDonald's to keep him away from her, as if we hadn't already been through enough. 

I honestly don’t know how we made it out of that situation unscathed. Looking back, it feels like an army of angels was watching over us. Two drunk, young girls driving through Mexico—one passed out, the other should’ve been—but somehow, we survived. I couldn't even smell tequila for years after that, let alone be around it. It was a stupid, reckless thing we did, but if there wasn’t a higher power looking out for us, I don’t know what else it could have been. That experience was nothing short of a miracle.

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