La Dolce Far Niente

Yes, I've seen Eat, Pray, Love.
No, I haven't read the book.
And I don't feel the need to.
The movie was hard-hitting enough to do without it.
And this will not be about how I can TOTALLY relate to Elizabeth Gilbert.
Even though I totally can.
Especially when she used the ruins in Rome as a metaphor about relationships and stuff.

.......
.......

While having drinks at Pier One, Pao asked me what I imagined I'd be doing when I was 40...

And not for a lack of ambition or even that of consuming passion but...

I really just pictured myself sitting by the garden or veranda or terrace of my lovely home on a lazy afternoon... drinking frozen fruit daquiris (with the sisters, who ---in my mind--- don't have anything more important to do than to sit around and drink daquiris with me) while the husband is at work, the kids are at school, and the "office" work I get to do at home doesn't need my immediate attention... because deadline is still next week.

Kinda like... the sweetness of doing nothing type ish.

I dunno.

Other people would wanna travel. Or still work. Hard.

But that was never really my thing: to spend money on these short-lived trips around the world. Why does one travel anyway? To become worldly? I hardly think simply marveling  and taking pictures of some Great Wonder to put up as a profile pic makes anyone "worldly." Of course, if I had the kind of money I wouldn't miss, I'd probably wanna see Stonehenge or something. For the sheer f*ck of it. But that whole Eat, Pray, Love hiatus... now that's a vacation. To "experience" people, places, and things... and ultimately, to gain the experience rather than to simply capture a moment.

And as for working hard...

Hell, I think keeping up with the family will be hard enough.

But I digress.

Pao said he imagined he'd still be doing what he was doing now... more or less toned down, of course. Still collecting toys. Still DJ-ing (for the fam). I think that's a lovely disposition to be at 40.

He wants the perfect family. Think Claire and Phil Dunphy from Modern Family. Quirky yet... loving.

And contrary to popular belief... I want the exact same thing. Even if I seriously seem like I'm too deranged or even liberal to ever want such a thing, let alone, actually work for it.

.....

I wanna be "rich" enough ---rich, as I would define it, to be content and at peace and not want of anything... or at least, not want of anything too lavish and to be "wise" enough to know what activities or decisions would come out the most... enriching--- to sit around in the afternoon and drink daquiris. Yes. Daquiris. That I prepared in my awesome turbo blender... in my awesome European-style kitchen... in my awesome veranda with a view of the garden filled with... Marigolds... with my sisters, my bestfriends... while I secretly contain the excitement of thinking up an awesome dinner for the husband and kids when they get home.

In The Zahir, Paulo Coelho wrote that what excites wives is not the sex... but what kind of meal they can prepare for their family.

*shrugs*

I agree. In a way. =)

And so you know how when you want something, you unconsciously gear your life towards it. Or the universe conspires to make it happen... or some other "The Secret" type sh*t like that?

Well...

Here's a picture of what I want in 13 years... (with our Ate Paula =)


And this... is what I expect to see in that time as well:













































I can only hope she doesn't like the taste of alcohol when she grows up. Better to traumatize her now, hahaha!