I’m not searching for my lost shaker of salt though…I don’t really like salt. Awesome! None of you knew that about me, did you? It’s true, I never add salt to anything. I’m wondering what that says about me. Not the salt thing…but the fact that I share all this personal information here, but not something simple like, “Hi, I’m Grace, I like my margaritas frozen, but no salt. I don’t really like salt.” Oh, well, you know now….
Sometimes when you’re alone in the middle of the night, it’s okay to *distract* yourself by singing Jimmy Buffet and blending up some frozen margs….(TIP: if you close the pantry door and put a towel over the blender, you can barely hear it so it won’t wake anyone up when you decide to make margaritas @ 2am– you’re welcome).
I’m distracting myself from the razor calling my name – thanks Marsha for the *tools*. I’m doing everything I can tonight to not regress into a bawling 5 year old or a psychotically angry teenager. So if that means making frozen margaritas on the floor of the panty and singing Jimmy Buffet…well then “That’s the best I can do right now…”
I don’t know…sometimes I think I’ll just stop all of it. Therapy, talking, writing, reaching out at all, breathing…I mean, is there really a point in verbalizing your feelings of hopelessness and defeat when you’re just going to be dismissed or trivialized? Is it better to just shut up & pretend, to half-smile till you die, rather than reach out? As I’ve always said, why express needs that will never be met. Childish needs and fears that have no right to exist in my adult head.
Why…why…why…why in the world should I embarrass myself by speaking aloud all of this fear inside my head only to be told that it’s okay to have this need, or that need, but there’s no way for it to be met. I don’t get that. And it only makes me hate myself more for ”needing” anything in the first place. Ah, the sordid talk of self-hatred. But is that what this is about now? Maybe…but maybe not. Maybe it’s more like shamefully wallowing in self-pity on the pantry floor.
Jimmy Buffet is singing, “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but I know, it’s my own damn fault.” It’s YOUR fault, Grace. No one else’s. How long are you going to hold this grudge against the host body, Grace? When will you realize that you can’t change the past…you can’t change how she feels about you now, Grace. You’ll never be loved – you’ll never have a mother. Too bad. Get over it. It is time to move on.”
I have completely misplaced my gratitude and love for life and I am searching for it….I am desperately searching for it here in the middle of the night…I am looking all around. I am reaching far down into the bottom of my gut, the base of my soul, the deepest place in my heart… God! This weakness! This weak depressed worthless woman! I can’t stand her! Give it up girl! Stop with the wretched self-pity, the craving for normalcy…just stop with the whining, “Why the hell don’t I get to be like everyone else?”. Just stop! I have been brought to my knees, shaken to the core. I have forgotten who I really am.
My whole life, my entire 39 years I have been straddling this teeter totter, pressing my feet back and forth, seeking the balance I have never been able to find… Gawd!! Dammit! I feel flushed and panicked and my head is spinning. I am screaming inside, “Please help me. Please come to me now and stay. Please stay with me in this place of darkness, this place of no hope or light.” (as if)
*Grace takes a break to wipe away the never-ending flow of tears, blow her nose, and blend another round of margaritas for one!* No salt… Cheers!
Feelings…feelings…feelings. They assault me like sniper fire, the bullets ricochet off of their unsuspecting target and slice open my thighs, my hip, my side…red, angry slashes. I have been hit again. I am walking around wounded, scarred, stunned. I’ve been told not to judge these feelings, or attach to them. They are neither good nor bad, Grace. Open the door to the pantry, Grace, and invite them in for expresso and scones…get to know them, no matter how hostile they seem. All of them? There’s not enough room here. The guilt, as pure and raw as sugar cane, comes to show me the terrible things I’ve done, the shameful places I’ve been, the faces of those I have harmed. The rage! It cannot be quelled or quieted. The overwhelming smothering rage hits me square in the chest after I have removed my bullet-proof vest. I feel the sharp shrapnel piercing my skin, reaching the very core of me. You self-righteousness woman…you selfish, bitter woman…
I can’t control it. I can’t think or reason my way out. I can’t figure out how to fix it, or breathe through it. I feel the blood draining out of me, warm and cold at the same time; the bitterness, the anger, the badness, it drains out of me and soaks into the soft cotton of my clothing. The patterns speak to me: You are weak, Grace. You are a lesser person, negative, selfish, dramatic, needy. How I loathe you, girl…
A knock on the door bringing yet another guest? Shame…welcome one of my oldest and best friends. Shame…she is always there for me…there is always room for her. She sits next to me and slides her warm calloused hand over my shoulder and down my chest… just as he used to do. Her hot breath hisses in my ear, “You are nothing without me. You cannot speak without me. You cannot breathe without me, write without me, feel without me. Without me you are neither interesting nor desirable. Without me by your side you cannot cope or deal with anything. You are mine and I am yours. You are nothing without me. I am your secret. This is our secret. I will keep you safe. I will keep your secrets.” My dearest friend. I offer her a drink and she begins to bandage my wounds…our secret, our secret. I lean into her, my oldest friend, and I let her hold me, even as she cruelly speaks my biggest failures aloud to me. She knows what I deserve. She is mine and I am hers.
Here we sit together and alone, my friend and I… Wasted away again in Margaritaville….she is searching for a sign of worth…strength…purpose…will…of anything that resembles life…but she didn’t find it.
LINK to Grace's new website: Wasted away again in Margaritaville
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