Do you usually have everything figured out in your life or do you just enjoy the momento and prefer not to worry about your futuro? Well, in case you are a persona of the I-don’t-have-a-plan type, you would probably get along with my very best friend Jess.
Jess had realized that sometimes plans punch you right in the face. She had discovered it after her ‘’never-happened’’ wedding, when she was still 18 years old. So, from that momento on, she had a hard time sticking to a plan and trusting men.
However, Jess knew for sure what she wanted in life and went for it, no matter the obstáculos she might find in her path. That’s why her determinación is one of the things I have always admirado the most. She may not have a plan, but at least she has a dirección.
Working in the city’s Psychiatric Hospital was the oportunidad profesional she had longed for since graduating as a psicóloga. So, realizing she had accomplished one of her career goals gave me a sort of satisfacción. She had ended up in the right place at the very exacto time. What she wasn’t aware of was the upcoming sorpresas destiny had preparado for her.
Before that, Jess had earned a living as a massage therapist for more than 4 years and somehow enjoyed that kind of independencia a privado business gives you. She had her own schedule and her own clientes, some of them young and attractivos, some others old enough to want to leave the masaje room inmediatamente. But Jess was impecable at sensing these things and very resourceful. She always managed to escapar embarrassing situaciones in the best posible way. And there was definitely the potential for awkwardness. She could write a book about it and become a bestselling autor in the blink of an eye. I’m going to suggest it to her one of these days. I have heard many hilarious historias in my life, but Jess’ anécdotas as a masajista cracked me up till I was in stitches.
However, the fact that she had majored in psicología made her think thoroughly about her profesional career and futuro. Jess had always liked helping people and she was very good at listening to problemas. Every time one of my girlfriends or I felt somehow depressed, she was there with her counselling and comforting words. Yet, that didn’t change the fact that she acted a bit crazy sometimes, especialmente after her last boyfriend decidió to leave the country and her behind. It had been an entero year since the last time they saw each other and from that momento on, Jess was involved in this exhausting long-distance relación she wasn’t willing to escapar from. So, I guess shrinks are also in need of other shrink friends…
The truth is that everyone around Jess had moved on, including me. We were already married and most of us had our own children, while Jess’s world was sort of stagnating; and what was even worse: she didn’t have any intención at all of starting a familia.
Carol was having the time of her life. She had been happy so many times before but the day she finalmente became a madre surpassed all expectativas. After 9 months of anxious waiting, her daughter had arrived just in time to remind her how challenging and beautiful life could be.
Indeed, la maternidad was challenging. We all discovered it at the same time. I’m still figuring out if it was fate playing cartas or if we are so mágicamente conectadas that we had agreed to have children together in the same exacto year. Our usual gossiping was no longer about fashion and lovers’ fights. Now our kids were the main characters in the soap opera of our lives.
All of a sudden, we were talking about labor, diapers, late nights and bebé food. Our bodies had changed dramatically and our way of thinking as well. Sometimes it was quite difícil to find a balance between the woman we used to be and the madre we had all become. We obviamente missed having time for ourselves: sleeping without any interrupciones, taking that long, warm shower that made us feel completamente relajadas and ready to face anything, going to a restaurante to have a decente meal you longed for, getting ready for that evento social you were invited to two weeks ago… Now, we barely had a minuto to dress properly and wear some makeup. But if we, by any chance, managed to go out of the house without our little bebés, somehow we ended up missing them. That’s the thing about la maternidad. Despite all the pain, crying, fatiga and hard work that came along, we were contradictoriamente happy.
Every weekend, Carol, her husband and bebé Sophia went on a trip across the U.S. to descubrir la naturaleza and visitar places they’d never been to. Sophia enjoyed the sea, the snow, the forest… She was aventurera just like her padre. So, from time to time, Carol was lucky enough to escape monotonía and feel like herself again.
As for the rest, well, we were still living in Cuba – so a road trip with our bebés wasn’t exactamente what we had in mind. Obviously, we wanted to be out and about, but our realidad put car trips beyond our imaginación. Veronica, Kate and I had to be more resourceful when it came to cheating rutina. However, we always managed to gather together at somebody’s place, order some típica Cuban meal (roasted puerco with rice and beans) and talk about how our lives had changed.
Liz hadn’t started a familia either but she, in fact, had moved on. To Mexico – to be more específica. She wasn’t exactamente the kind of woman that ran after a man, so she had decided to finalmente settle down… with herself. The truth was that every time Liz saw an oportunidad to thrive, there she was: chasing her destino.
(…to be continued…)
Transadaptation Volume 4 – Material Dissent
January: A Blinding Light and Then, All Darkness – Jonay Quintero Hernández (Spain)
February: The Opportunist – Lauren Voaden (United Kingdom)
March: A Stranger in my City – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)
April: A South African Soundtrack – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)
May: Full Circle – Ina Maria Vogel (Germany)
June: La Lluvia en Bogotá – Adriana Uribe (Columbia)
July: Freedom – Krisztina Janosi (Hungary)
August: A Bus Ride – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
September: Transcendence – Armine Asryan (Nane Sevunts) (Armenia)
October: Motherhood – Marilin Guerrero Casas (Cuba)
November: Nine Days – Gennady Bondarenko (Ukraine)
December: Open – Seyit Ali Dastan (Turkey)
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: 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 (top row, left to right; bottom row, left to right)
1. Havana, Cuba – Pride – Ernan Solozabal (Unsplash), 2. Havana, Cuba – Down the street – Dennis Schmidt (Unsplash), 3. Havana, Cuba – A break – Ernan Solozabel (Unsplash), 4. Havana, Cuba – This way – Carlos Torres (Unsplash), 5. Havana, Cuba – Ready – Ernan Solozabal (Unsplash); Bottom: 6. Havana, Cuba – Flickering – Paco Wong (Unsplash), 7. Havana, Cuba – Hung out to dry – Carlos Torres (Unsplash), 8. Havana, Cuba – Night – Ernan Solozabal (Unsplash)
Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed