Everything Falling Into Place; It is Either a Miracle, Destiny or the Work if Allah, Perhaps All Three; Middle of the Night Anxieties Followed by An Absolutely Fabulous Day; No Traffic; Great Good Mornings; Water Aerobics; Ecumenical Defined; Successor Trustee Situation Works Out Perfectly So I am Joyously Leaving A Legacy to Brandeis School: Photographs of Me After Being Hit By a Motorcycle in 2014; Not Pretty

Today is Friday, all day apparently. One can not believe how everything is falling into place. Absolutely everything and, whether you want to or not, you are.going to hear about it. My mood? Utter relaxation, peace, happiness – no dreads, anxiety or feelings of frantic fear, despite the fact that I am about to RADICALLY change my life. Today, for the first day, I am ready for it. The pieces that fit together perfectly – like a 1000 piece jig saw puzzle that suddenly fit. It is so difficult to know where to begin – so – how about this? I will begin when I woke up – sometimes I am SO creative. Hahaha

Woke up, late for me at 6;45. It had been a fitful evening, full of all sorts of anxieties and fears. Will they kick me out of my apartment? Who will take care of my mail? How do I call off Wise Man? Should I finish the blog now or wait until morning? What is really going on with PI? P – his absences rather inexplicable? Can I possibly take my precious Lexus to Dubai with me? I love the car so much and it seems like a good luck charm as everything got better in my life after its acquisition (well except for the false police report, the ridiculous notion that I was a danger to others, and being incarcerated in the Crisis Unit of Marin General Hospital for a crime that I did not commit, then being served with a three day notice by a guy that I thought was my friend) How could someone do that – has this man no empathy and does that mean he is a psychopath as suggested by Wise Man? He does not seem psychopathic today or the day before that or the day before that

But I did fall back to sleep and then work up at 6:45. Checked on time of sunrise for morning prayer and accidentally found my missing iWatch and a calendar that I desperately needed. Made coffee, drinking it while reviewing blog. I became enamored with my own blog writing, I now love myself, which is a good idea because if you do not to love yourself, no one else is going to love you and I am actually starting to earnestly wish that some guy love me (a particular guy actually). I decided that his best move would be to get on the same San Francisco-Dubai plane as we would have hours of uninterrupted time to get to know each other better. Decided to not worry about that – he is most clever, brilliant as a matter of fact so he might think of the idea himself or Allah will tell him, if Allah thinks it is a good idea. But just in case I shall put it on the blog because I know he reads the blog.

No breakfast but found everything (but phone it turned out). Wonderful woman let me pull out ahead of her. Redwood High School traffic can be troublesome, but not bad. Got to JCC and two you people said good morning to me.
Me: Thank you – the two of you. I should have said good morning but I am a bit distracted because I am moving.
He: Are you, we shall miss you. Where are you moving to?
Me: Well, you are never going to believe this, but Dubai.
He: Excellent!!
Me: I cannot believe you said that, but why did you say that.
He: Because everything good is happening there.
Me: Well, you are so right but most people do not know that.

Despite this long conversation did get to water aerobics on time and it was a fantastic class as usual. I am going to miss JCC and the classes so much. Maybe we could do a Zoom thing, record the class and zoom it to me in Dubai – the hotel has a swimming pool Perhaps other hotel guests could join us. Interesting – a Muslim country zooming in a Jewish Water Aerobics class. Now that is downright ecumenical. Sort of the right word because some appropriate synonyms are: universal, all-embracing, all-inclusive. The next use of the pool after water aerobics is the most darling and amazing class. Little, baby children have swimming lessons with their parents. There were two darling twins who actually looked Arabic. The mothers and the babies are so happy, so content to be with each other, the instructor patient and kind. It is how children should be raised – quite unlike the practices at this apartment complex. Most, if not all, of the parents work, both parents, and the children have little one on one time which is essential to child rearing (so says Wise Man). These JCC mothers, (and sometimes fathers) must not work outside the home as the classes are held in the late morning of a weekday.

No doubt these are educated parents, it is impossible to be financially secure in this county without being educated – particularly women must have an education in order to be financially independent. That has been my motto my entire life. I educated myself, unknown in my lower class family – I wanted to get out of that rut and did. Education, particularly for women is encouraged on this blog which is far reaching. But I am putting my money where my mouth is and was able to achieve the last step of my dream today. I am leaving my legacy, the money that I alone earned, to the Brandeis School for the education of the young of this county which I called home from 1973-2014, returning in December of 2020. I am grateful to this county – well recently not due to unfortunate events but it is a different place than the Marin of 1973. Then the populace was environmentally conscious, its schools were excellent as the property taxes paid by families in single family homes made funding for the schools at least adequate. People moved here to raise their families In a safe environment. Things have changed a great deal, unfortunately. It is so expensive to live in this county and many people crowd into complexes such as these with their children so they can go to Marin County schools. Brandeis is an excellent school, could not be better from what I see and hear, not only now but through the years. The vast majority of students do NOT come from rich families and so tuition assistance is badly needed. I am not just happy but joyous to be aiding those families helping them educate their children in a responsible fashion. It is a dream actually – I have left something of value. Not having children does make one wonder, and question.
Me: Did I make a difference? Is there anything left of me in this world when I leave it that is positive and good.?
Alter Ego: Yes Alexis there is and I am proud oof your success. It is your goal to leave a million dollars of your own hard earned money to the community and the education of the young.

So I am a success, no doubt about that, with an ample retirement income so that I am not dependent on any one else or the community to support me and over and above that, I am educating young people, perhaps not even born yet. The final step was to ask Brandeis if they would serve as successor trustee to First Republic Bank.
Me: So Margie and I felt that would be a solution to the funding and successor situation.
JCC: Of course Alexis. Guess what? We use First Republic Bank
Me: OMG OMG – this is going to work and be signed, sealed and delivered before I leave for Dubai. I am absolutely joyous. Absolutely!!

So I leave this country a success – a person who contributed to the place I called home for so many years. I have never actually felt like an American. I was born in Canada, so did not feel like a tried and true American. Never did, in all my years here follow Federal politics (thank goodness for that, particularly during those Trump years. My employment required adherence to local and State politics. If anything I considered myself a Marinite – not an American citizen, although, of course, I came to this country with a green card which turned into citizenship. It is possible to become an Emeuriti irate but unlikely – only 20% of the populace of Dubai are Emirate. I did already Google it and access the possibility and procedure but it is one step at a time.
So I happily laughed and joked with men and women meeting at Brandeis, one man was a Board member. One joked:
He: We will name the School after you.
Me: Now that would be funny as I am, after all a Muslim and am certain to remain a Muslim But I am going to keep Alexis and not take a Muslim name, I have two Muslim names Ayla (to be rejected) and Leah (the preferred). McBride is first husband’s name. If I married I would have a Muslim last name. But not married right now – divorced three, should not have married them in the first place. I had bad taste in men – hope it improves this time. I shall only marry a fine man. As I say assertively: So there! So there! So there!

I had a near death experience which shaped my remaining life. I was hit by a motorcycle the second day I was in London – to go to graduate school getting a student visa so that I could live in London, September 13, 2014. I looked the wrong way, a common problem for most folk of other lands, and the speeding guy hit me. I landed on my head – it required 27 staples (to stop the bleeding) and 26 stitches on my forehead. Did I look awful – as you shall see. But I recovered, even started graduate school on time. No one can to help me – no friends, no family, no one. I was all alone in London with not a soul to help me. But I made it.

Here is the good news. I have been in Dubai before and can assure you that they know which side of the road they are supposed to be driving upon. PHEW!! They have fantastic medical care, if something happens and my medical insurance from the County of Marin will pay for it. PHEW I looked at those photos – do I look awful or what?? But no permanent scarring – one eyebrow a little lower than the other and I have no feeling in the top of my head. It is an advantage – my hair never feels dirty – I can go for months without washing my hair. Four months was my record during Covid. I have dry hair so it was ok. See, something bad can turn into something good. It always does in my life – so I sort of welcome the bad times. Sort of being the operative word.

More about my fabulous day in tomorrow’s blog. (Or the next days or the next days) .

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