It was the worst of Valentines and the best of Valentines because I learned never to settle for a man with a small manhood.
I was a twenty year-old USC student and on the rebound from the break-up with my high school sweetheart. Oh the pain, the torment, the black yawning loneliness. Thank God I threw out that journal because if I reread it today, I’d only annoy myself.
So after the big break up I met Smallness. He was charming and not as smart as I was and off we went. However, I wasn’t smart enough to realize why Smallness had a tendency to talk about his horrible, evil ex –girlfriend. I thought that I was so amazingly wonderful that Smallness couldn’t help but compare her to me. The week before Valentines Day he broke up with me, over the phone, for her.
Again the pain, the torment, blah, blah, blah. But then I went to Sedona, Arizona on a road trip and on Valentine’s Day, walked into a kitschy gift shop for a map of the vortexes. I was hoping a vortex would suck out my misery.
But the store happened to have a huge display of Pueblo Storyteller Dolls. Some are quite elaborate and they had one that stood almost four feet tall. But they also represent the storyteller sitting with her eyes closed and mouth open, passing along the stories of her people to the tiny children she holds in her arms. At the time, I was a pre-med hoping that one day I’d make enough money as a doctor to retire early and follow my true passion of writing novels. However, I was failing Chemistry 101 and so there were signs that this plan wasn’t going to work out.
That Valentine’s Day, when I found my Storyteller doll (she was the least expensive at $10.95!), I heard the call that I was a writer. Like the Pueblo storyteller who is chosen to bear the responsibility of keeping the myths and stories of her people alive, there was nothing else for me to do but follow my calling. Nothing else mattered, especially men with such a small sense of manhood that they didn’t know a good thing when they saw it!
Ever since that day, I’ve managed to make my living as a writer and now as an author. There are days when the writing and I make passionate love, and then the days when we can’t stand each other. But man, not a day goes by that I’m not grateful to have met one of my Great Loves that Valentine’s Day in Sedona.
Mary Castillo
Read a sneak peek of NAMES I CALL MY SISTER (HarperCollins Avon May 2007)
For all of Mary’s books & blogs please visit www.marycastillo.com
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That’s such the way…The best gifts are the ones we find within ourselves.
🙂 d