There is a different Maria running around the farm this week. Sometimes I  have to work to keep track with all the different Maria’s that are popping up. There’s the Freda Kahlo Maria, the Willa Cather Maria, the Tarzana Maria.

Now, there’s the Belly Dancing Maria, very different from all of the other Maria’s. Take a look at this photo, you may not see make-up on Maria again in this life.

I’m not sure I’m man enough to keep up with this new Maria, she has as much attitude as all of the other three combined, and that is saying quite a bit. It makes me speechless sometimes.

Belly dancing has proven to be an important step for Maria a coming out, an affirmation of true self. For the first time in life, she put on make-up today to go to a final rehearsal for her first public Belly Dancing performance, which will be at a Farmer’s Market in Vermont (Bennington) this Saturday from 10 a.m to one p.m.

This is another of those things Maria does that she has never done and never thought she could do.

I will get to see her belly dance for only the second time in the two years since she joined up with the Sisters of The Shawl.

This Maria is, I believe, the true Maria, the one that was locked up for years but has finally broken free. She loves the group, the women in it, and every part of belly dancing, from the intricate movements to the synchronization of the group.

This kind of dancing is not about men, not about entertaining or amusing them, it is all about women and pride and attitude. I see this in her eyes when she goes out to dance and when she comes home.

I love all the Maria’s, life with her is full and exciting and challenging. It is shocking to see her in make-up, but that is part of the belly dancing persona, and she embraces it with her usual love and care.

I wish I had statues of all the Maria’s, but I may have the next best thing, photos. Perhaps a photo album one day. I would call it “My Maria’s,” but she would bristle at that.

You can live happily with a Maria, but you can’t ever own one.