I spent the last 20 minutes sitting on my couch watching the morning fog roll in off of the pacific, it’s cool dampness creeps through the cracks of my high falutin’ doublewide. My fancy vintage designer swivel chairs almost twist with the thickness and chill. I love living out here on the edge of Point Dume, we are at the back of the club as they call this place. I have unobstructed views of the ocean – if I stand just right.
Native American Indians used Point Dume as a place to send smoke signals to tribes up and down the coast as it sits way out in the ocean – sort of like an attached island. There is something to this for me, you see the combination of thick fog, giant sky and never ending ocean feels like a blank canvas full of electricity to power my imagination as I too become a better communicator. Whats really fantastic is dreaming way out here on the edge, I sleep deeply with the windows open allowing that chilly fog to rest on top of my down comforter – filling my sleep with fantastic & crazy dreams. Just the other night I dreamed that Lola and I were breaking into a friends house and stealing sweaters! Lol…We weren’t doing it out of malice but instead with giggly mischievousness. Simultaneously there was a second dream occurring, like a split screen in a theater – I kept seeing this woman working like a mad scientist trying to find the formula for my work. My dream guide was there (you know the one you can’t see only hear) he kept telling me not to worry “she” was working behind the scenes and would connect the dots. I’d then jump to the other half of the screen and return to my crazy escapades with Lola. Then back to the mad scientist, each time reassured that destiny was at work.
I woke up thinking about this dream and there was a peace as I rested quietly in the early hours. Suddenly my mind grabbed a name Eleanor Coppola – Francis Coppola’s wife. I crept out of my bed, made some coffee and hit google search – What I learned about her is that she not only kept a home during their life together, but she also connected the dots, making a documentary based on home movies shot while her husband filmed Apocalypse Now. She also wrote a memoir: Notes On A Life. I’d never thought about Eleanor until moving here, you see our phone number is one of her old numbers as whenever I call someone her name pops up on the caller id. About an hour later the phone rang and Bubba & Nanny (Ted & Peggy) called to tell me about their night out and the highlight was that they sat next Eleanor Coppola & Francis at a restaurant up in wine country!!!!!!
I quickly told them my dream and how I’d just spent the morning reading about Eleanor – I knew what was happening, she is a mirror for me and I never have to meet her to feel her influence.
When I was young I thought someone outside of MEE would connect my dots, tie it all together, find the formula and make things happen, agents, managers, writing partners thinking it would take someone else to make what I do good enough – someone else held the key to my value. I relied on assistants, friendships and family, even as I approached marriage I saw my husbands position and life as the one giving us importance. I LOVE getting older ’cause with my age has come my growth and confidence now I see life differently. Instead of seeing the mad scientist as someone else I see her as MEE – I married a man who’s world is was big and TOGETHER we created a huge life, and like Eleanor & Francis we too have moved around the globe like gypsies and I’ve been taking notes, making funny home videos and now put it all down on paper in the Queen Of The DoubleWides. With each thought and reflection via Eleanor Coppola I saw with clarity that I am indeed the mad scientist in the dream constantly looking for the formula for a happy life, cooking up a recipe to feel better and carving a path for not only my own personal success but the success of my family….
Speaking of family Senora Gina and Don Lalo flew into town from Sayulita, Mexico to spend the weekend with us before flying to Paris and Italy for a few weeks. The girls had not seen their Mexican Grandparents in more than two years. The magic of our connection is that all of us picked up where we’d left off – that’s the thing about holding a line, all one has to do is KNOW that a thread of love runs through the heart creating a formula stronger than blood.





