My Quantum Era Quinceanera
Dr. Liza Marquez
It is my birthday this week…not a big one, but not a small one either. And certainly, it IS a cause for celebration! I’m big on celebrating everything because LIFE is absolutely worth it! As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!” To me, a celebration is the exclamation point to her quote!
Growing up, we were a family of ‘Yay, throw a par-ty!’ Any reason to have aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and grandparents gather, we used it! So, imagine my dismay when turning fifteen came without a whisper of a quinceanera.
For those unfamiliar with this jubilee celebrated since the Mayans and Aztecs, it is a rite of passage among Latina girls turning fifteen. It is a welcome into womanhood, a young lady’s debut into the world, and it is quite an over-the-top FIESTA!
Except for me, I just turned a regular fifteen. My Quince (fifteen) came and went as did my annoyance for not having the celebration I had envisioned…until recently!
I did not realize how much I’d pined for this festivity until two years ago when I my own daughter was turning fifteen (quince).
Unlike me, she was adamant she did NOT want this crazy celebration. So, (sadly) we did not have it (WHAT????)
I found myself upset that, again, I would not be celebrating a quinceanera the way I WANTED! (Do I need to wait for a granddaughter??)
It was my over-the-top reaction that got me to wonder what was stirring all these emotions: “Do believe I missed out on something?”; “Am I now too old to celebrate in a certain way?”; And more importantly, if this celebration is what I have wanted, “WHAT HAVE I BEEN WAITING FOR?”
And there it was…the question AND the answer. “What HAD I been waiting for?” ME, obviously. I had been waiting for me to realize that I have been waiting for ME! Playwright Eugene Ionesco said it perfectly, “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” And, that question brought me to ME.
What I seek to experience is seeking to express through me. That is true for all of us.
Knowing this, free us. It frees us to make choices that align with our desires; frees us to release beliefs that disempower; it frees us to follow the path of our passions NO MATTER WHAT; and for me, it frees me to celebrate myself any way I choose!!
Besides, time is a Newtonian construct, according to quantum physics. Which means, there is only NOW. This NOW moment contains all that was, is, and will be. So, in that case, I am still a fifteen-year-old ready to celebrate her quantum era quinceanera!
A FESTEJAR!!!!
