I didn’t know how much stronger I was until I found out about my disease almost two years ago. I wasn’t ready to live my life this way. I believe no one is. It is just easier when you are a child and your mamá takes you to the hospital and you don’t even realize how serio your health condition is. But when you are aware that you can actually hurt people for something you don’t even have control over, that is what I call being up against the wall and feeling realmente awful. I think that is one of the major beneficios of being a kid. You don’t have to worry about this kind of stuff because that is what adultos are for.

I can say for sure that I had a happy childhood. Being raised by your grandma, because your padres are so busy working, gives you a much broader perspectiva on having fun. Today, my grandmother doesn’t even remember her sons’ nombres; she’s just too old. But at that tiempo, she was, like every other grandma, meant to spoil her grandchildren in every possible way.

My friends and I had a talento impresionante for música and we were so eager to start our own business in the music industria that we had a very strict schedule to practicar our rutinas. I played the piano and sometimes I sang together with Carol. Her younger cousin played the guitarra and my cousin played the drums. We were about 10 years old and we really rocked, and since the instrumentos weren’t reales, I can say our work was of gran mérito. Don’t you think?

Carol and I also had tiempo to write our own songs, and ocasionalmente we were so entusiasmadas that we wrote our own historias, instead of songs. Today, Carol ha publicado her first poetry book, and, as for me, I have some poemas somewhere in my house waiting to be published. So this writing hábito wasn’t a waste of tiempo after all.

In real life, I didn’t become a músico and I can’t call myself a writer either, but from time to time I come up with some ideas and I put them on paper while I listen to some nice música. And it just feels awesome.

After a long tiempo, I began to work again. It took me a while to embrace the new air in the oficina, but, as you know, I easily adapto to any circunstancia and place. In the morning, I still worked for the same institución gubernamental that I used to in the pasado and, in the afternoon, I had a few estudiantes willing to continuar their language lessons at home. If you look at things from this ángulo, not much had changed, but the truth was quite a bit had.

My ex had turned out to be an absolute asshole. At first, he was realmente supportive during my periodo de tratamiento but who wouldn’t have been? Either way, when he decidió to start a relación with another girl who I happened to know, it was realmente the end of an era. But despite all the crying and all the unpleasant talk that comes with the goodbye, life was sending me a mensaje claro: He wasn’t the guy for me. Who was? I didn’t have a clue. I wished I could be a child again and fool around with boys without worrying about these heart issues.

Of course, I wasn’t a child anymore. I finalmente had to let my brain take charge of my life for once. I didn’t want another relación seria por el momento. It was tiempo de explorar the single territorio without taking any risks.

(…to be continued…)

2021: Conceived – Volume 2 of a Contemporary Transadaptation 

January: The Pack – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)

February: The Pink Shirt – Talia Stotts (America)

March: Dragging the Past out into the Light – Kate Korneeva (Russia)

April: Looking Forward to Spring – Marilin Guerrero Casas (Cuba)

May: Every Little Thing – Gennady Bondarenko (Ukraine)

June: The Girl Who Chased the Rainbow – Toni Wallis (Sarah-Leah Pimentel) (South Africa)

July: Another World – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)

August: Life after Nare – Nane Sevunts (Armine Asryan) (Armenia)

September: Meeting My Homeland – Rayan Harake (Lebanon)

October: Catching Water (Part Two) – Javier Gomez (Argentina)

November: Remember – Seyit Ali Dastan (Turkey)

December: I Can’t Breathe – Veronica Cordido (Venezuela)

Background – Context

In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)

Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)

L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)

From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)

Emblems and stories on the international community

Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world

Credits

Cover photo: Havana, Cuba – Reception – gg foto (Shutterstock)
Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed