Where were "you" in 1977?

When I ran my own business up until 3 years ago, I ended up on a gazillion mailing lists and a lot of it is still coming to me despite the fact that most of it is useless to me now.  I just toss most of it, but there is one that keeps coming that I continue to look at just because it is so inspired and beautiful to absorb. I don't know how I ended up on their list, but I regularly receive invitations to openings at this art gallery called Sundaram Tagore Gallery.  The invites are lovely to look at and are printed on heavy glossy card stock with stunning photos.

There are three of them, one in NYC, one in Beverly Hills and one in Hong Kong.  Even when I did run my own show, I never attended any of their openings although the thought of it always intrigued me.  They feature the most amazing artists and their spaces are all airy and open and I am sure their patrons are members of those city's upper crust, cultured and interesting, educated, well-heeled and pretentious crowd.  Mixed in with that group would be a scattering of genuinely unique and talented individuals that would attract me, make me want to engage in conversation with them.  They would provide me with some jolt of inspiration or motivate me to get in touch with my own creative yearnings.  I would leave the evening of wine and chatter renewed and ignited - I love it when that happens.

Recently I watched Midnight in Paris and anytime I read or watch anything related to that whole artistic movement back then, I long for such an experience myself.  The closest I ever came I suppose was when I was backpacking through Europe in 1977 and spent a day with George Whitman at Shakespeare and  Company in Paris.  I was a naive 19 yr old girl with not much more than a spirit of adventure and the desire to leave my small town life behind me and see the world.  George died a couple of months ago, his daughter now runs the shop, but I will never forget that day with him and the sign in his office - "To those who cherish freedom, practice equality and seek justice, Welcome!" 

Imagine the lessons I learned that year.  I started out in September and returned in December an entirely different gal.  It was the best education I could have had.  That afternoon with George was just one of dozens of life-altering experiences that took place that autumn.  So today, when I read something on an astrology blog that said for the next month we should try to reflect back to 1977, because something that happened that year was likely to repeat itself in the next few weeks. Since that trip was the highlight of that year for me, I can only imagine that whatever is about to manifest must have something to do with that same thirst for change and adventure perhaps.

I did something ballsy that year. I was fearless.  I had no real plan and not much money, but I acted totally on instinct and desire and went for it.  It was awesome. I figured it out as I went and just relished each new experience as it presented itself. I experienced wonder, joy, danger, fear, surprise, awe, growth and learned so much about myself and the world around me daily. More than the entire 18 years leading up to that adventure.

It was one of the best times of my life. Unforgettable. Life-changing.

Me at my very best.

So the question is - what could possibly mirror that? 2012 may start to get really interesting.