Mammas in Maui

Today is my daughter’s due date: 11-11. When she told me that’s what the doctor and midwife had predicted, I was awestruck because of the significance of the date.

In numerology, 11:11 is viewed as a powerful moment for significant events to happen. This time is often seen as a sign of synchronicity, symbolizing good fortune or indicating a spiritual presence. The repeated digits in this sequence are believed to enhance its intensity and amplify its numerological impact.

People often attach meaning to specific dates and numbers for various reasons. A well-known example is “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”—11:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918, in Paris—which marks the moment the World War I armistice took effect. On November 11, 2011, or “11/11/11,” a notable increase in marriages took place in several regions worldwide, including the United States and parts of Asia. In Poland, the date 11/11 and the hour 11:11 hold special significance, symbolizing November 11, 1918, Polish Independence Day, when Poland regained freedom from German, Austrian, and Russian rule.

But, for Erica it was always more than that. When she was just a freshman in college, she was frightened by the overwhelming 11:11 visions she was having. She’d look up at the clock every day at that very moment. She would be dealt random 11s in her life, whether it be an address, a hotel room, an airline seat, or just about anything. So much so that she took it as her mantra. She tattooed it on her body in various forms, created businesses and websites, and lived within the spiritual aspects of the—MCXI, 1111, IIII, Eleven-Eleven. It was everywhere. So imagine my reaction when she told me the baby was due TODAY. And I said to her then, “I’ll make you a bet that it will come true, too.” (As I write this a day early from publication date, nothing has happened yet!)

I arrived in Maui one week ago and settled into her lovely little house in Kula, with its beautiful view, high ceilings, non-stop windows, and large lanai. She had turned the rental into a cozy nest for herself and her magical child. I settled into the second bedroom that she had set up for me in perfection and got into the routine and spirit of the Hawaiian island.

Her best friend, Chelsea Miller, came to spend a couple of months with her to help her through this adventure. She’s a well-respected master knife artisan whose culinary knives grace the kitchens of some of the best chefs in the world. She’s the best friend any woman could have as she’s as capable and resourceful as one can imagine—I knew Erica would be in good hands and that having Chelsea with us would be a big bonus.

One of the first things we did after my arrival was an excursion to a couple of big box stores—Whole Foods for groceries, then Target, and later in the week to Walmart to complete the comfort of the house by buying a few more goodies that would make life there even easier and more pleasant. Even in paradise, shopping centers made up of these enormous barns filled with anything and everything are as Americana as it gets. We invented this kind of consumerism.

This is where culture shock took a serious blow to my senses as we perused the aisles and aisles and aisles of American products at prices I could not have imagined. Yes, inflation has gotten the best of America; yes, the Euro is stronger at about $1.08 inflating prices by 8% and yes, everything comes in bigger-than-life packaging that fits into an American home, but not a small apartment in Paris.

Illy coffee that you can purchase in Monoprix in France is €7.49. At Whole Foods in Maui, the sticker price was $17.99! Maybe Maui is more expensive than the mainland, and maybe Italian products come at a premium, but it was a slap in the face and a reality check on what’s available in France at less than half the price. I couldn’t bring myself to purchase it, on principle if not on price. At the same time, our little excursion through Target proved to be a bargain furnishing the house for virtual pennies—although IKEA’s prices in France rival just about anyone’s anywhere.

We couldn’t wait to get out of there, but at the same time, we appreciated the convenience. As we were driving through the parking lot dotted with palm trees, they were the only things that distinguished this “suburbiascape” from anywhere else in the U.S. We could have been anywhere…except for the distinctive foliage. It’s one of the things I do relish in Europe—the diversity on every level.

Mauians are a particular breed, even if not native and come from everywhere else. My red lipstick stands out since “natural” is “de rigueur.” It didn’t take long to tone down the make-up and start to blend in…if even a little. Erica encouraged getting into the flow of the lifestyle and just letting go a bit. It might become addictive.

New-age health solutions abound on the island. Erica has been preparing for a natural childbirth with a “doula,” and a midwife. These are terms one doesn’t hear often in places like Paris or Nice. Doulas are non-clinical birth professionals who are trained to provide emotional, physical, and informational support. Unlike Western medical professionals, they do not provide clinical advice or emergency care, but assist with pain management, suggest comfort techniques, and offer support in the early days after birth. Midwives are trained professionals who provide both medical care and emotional support. They can deliver babies in hospitals, birthing centers, or at home and are licensed to administer medications and perform deliveries independently. Hers have worked together to prepare her for the labor, antepartum, or postpartum support. While all of these professionals certainly exist in France, they are less of the norm than they are in Maui, where life is all about nature and doing things naturally.

We met with these two women for a final check-up prior to delivery. The midwife’s home is nestled within a private tropical garden the likes of which can only be found on a tropical island such as this. Buddhas adorn the garden, one of which is a fountain into a pond and the scene is serene. The examination table sits under a gazebo surrounded by cane armchairs where we could all sit and support the soon-to-be mother. The rains came down around us as these two women examined Erica and predicted when she might actually expect the baby boy to show his pretty face to the world.

Her experience delivering this baby in France would have been very different and much less expensive. Nonetheless, given my 11:11 daughter, this route was the perfect choice for her, and I supported it 100%. She was very ready, both mentally and physically, to take on such a monumental change in her body and her life. I had none of that when I delivered her 39 years ago in Knoxville, Tennessee in a hospital with spine-deadening drugs.

One of her go-to new-age health professionals is a woman named Joyanna (I just love the happiness of this name) who gives QiGong, yoga, healing and bodywork, and pregnancy care. I signed up for a 1.5 hour QiGong class Monday night in her studio with seven other women of a certain age—mine. Most were well over 70 years old and lovely. Joyanna was proficient and the class was better than perfect in its ability to get my Qi (pronounced “chee”) going—the word for “energy.”

Erica scheduled a special group session for us and some of her friends to take place on Saturday morning. There were eight of us breathing and moving in harmony, again for 1.5 hours in her studio in her house not far from Erica’s.

I’ve been doing QiGong daily since the Covid-19 pandemic and loved its healing properties—something that is easily done at home for only a few minutes without having to don special gear or travel to a gym. QiGong is a traditional Chinese practice that integrates movement, breathing, and meditation to enhance health and well-being using slow, gentle, and carefully controlled movements that are repeated several times. Deep, slow breathing is central to QiGong, often alternating between abdominal breathing and breathing techniques involving sound. The practice involves focusing the mind and using visualization techniques and the purpose is to balance and optimize energy within the body, mind, and spirit. That might sound like a lot of new-age garble, but it’s worked for me to keep my body in good shape filled with energy throughout the day.

YouTube offers up one instructor I’ve found to offer the best online videos of approximately 15 minutes to start your day: Kseny Gray, located in the seaside town of Port Grimaud in the South of France. Try it—you might love it as much as I do.

On Election Day we attended a birthday party for a friend. We were asked to not mention it or politics and no one uttered a word. I was getting update reports on my phone, but kept the information to myself. Maui is such a blue bubble that politics barely affect their lifestyle. They simply strive to live as peacefully as possible and since they all think pretty much alike, the conversation is pointless.

To arrive at the house, we traveled along a very narrow and winding road through an absolute jungle, then came upon a big white Maui-esque wooden plantation home sitting majestically on a grassy hill overlooking the jungle from which we had just come. I fell in love with the house—all white wood inside and out, all rooms large with large windows and lots of lanais, minimalist interior furnishings, contemporary but not sterile, warm and inviting. I wanted to move right in. (I apologize for not having take photos!)

Guesses are that the average age of everyone there was about 35. The guests were all “birds of a feather”—beautiful young men and women, mostly dressed in peasant-style loose cotton clothing, both married and single, with young children, baby-babies and pregnant women, all enjoying a natural life on the island. The babies were all as beautiful as their parents. One woman sat on a sofa and breastfed two at one time—one on each breast, both of them hers, only about one year or so apart. I’d never witnessed that before.

Maui has most of the microclimates found on Earth. In half a day you can drive from rainforest to alpine to desert, and the many micro climates in between. You can actually see them from a distance and can go from warm and sunny to rainy and cool in a matter of minutes in your car. Normally the temperature is that perfect 75 °F (24 °C) give or take. It could easily spoil you and you need a lot less of a wardrobe than you do in France!

In Paris I missed the 27th edition of Paris Photo, which I never miss! And this year, it returned to the splendor of the Grand Palais. Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch was the guest invited to select works from the fair to present visitors a journey around surrealism. A friend from New York who is staying in my Paris apartment is a regular attendee and sent me a few photos from the fair, just to whet my appetite and make me jealous. She managed to get a photo of Jarmusch himself posing for her. The fair also featured August Sander’s monumental series “People of the 20th Century” in Europe for the first time.

Thursday morning I woke up very early to get ready for our webinar with Fab Insurance, “Moving to France Post US Elections.” The format was informal—just a conversation between Fabien Pelissier and myself sizing up the situation for Americans wanting to move to France. We had more than 1700 people registered and 1000 showed up for the one-hour event. It broke all records!

In Wednesday’s Nouvellettre® I’ll go into greater depth about the webinar and answer some of the questions that didn’t get answered at the time. Meanwhile, you can watch it on our YouTube channel.

The Saturday farmer’s market is where the entire island seems to congregate. The fresh produce and offerings are very different from a market you might encounter in Provence! While there maybe woven baskets and some of the universal vegetables, there are also exotic flower sellers, herbal remedy purveyors and coconut sellers who will gladly open one, fit a straw inside so you can drink the sweet liquid and then chop it open to access the fresh meat.

Sunday, we hit the beach…but there will be more from Maui as the month here progresses…and the adventure unfolds!

A la prochaine…