Diamond-Cut Life

I had a marguerita last night with my fish tacos at the Hawthorne Fish House. I tossed the drink down fast, in the tiny wedge of time available to me between fighting the traffic home from a meeting in Salem (I won an award — happy surprise!) , and the start of the writing critique group that’s helping me finish my novel, Revelle.

Despite the pleasure of the award, the hectic pace of the whole day and night was pretty much the antithesis of the diamond-cut life, my ideal of more joy and less consumption than our mainstream, materialistic culture practices. Feeling harried and harassed by the day’s demands, at 5:35 last night I wanted the marguerita to alleviate my stress and  ‘make things up to me’.

Kind of a lot to expect from a single glass of liquid.  But I have to laugh, it’s all so human. I had been creating my own stress, overcommitting my time yet again, wanting to have and do everything, which makes my stomach grind with tension. It’s the whole scenario for which I’ve envisioned the diamond-cut life to be the antidote.

Grounding myself in the natural world, whether with a hike or even just my thoughts, is my favorite path back to balance. How do margueritas relate to the natural world? Well, they are made with tequila, which comes from a cactus called agave, one variety of which is pictured above. Below is a haiku I wrote last year, no doubt after another of my relapses into hyperactivity followed by a self-medicating marguerita. We can say that the diamond-cut life is my version of the holy grail, something I am chasing, rather than something I’ve found.

Tequila

The desert transmutes

Heat through fermented cactus,

Calming my raw rage.

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‘Backlit Agave’  photo is courtesy of Bill Gracey

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