“Ya te oí, ya te oí” is always my first thought in the morning. I say it to my stubborn alarm that just won’t give up. It reminds me of Cinderella struggling to wake up, with birds tugging at her as she stumbles to the window, frustrated, yelling at the clock tower and lamenting to the birds, “Él también quiere mandar.” (My very own Disney moment, if you will… I have a lot of those.)
Today is a little different. I have a doctor’s appointment—they’ll finally tell me what’s wrong with my belly (I hope), so I’ll be late for work. I get in the Uber, and the driver is playing soft meditation music. I’m grateful I’m not being pulled into yet another “Oh, you’re from Venezuela…” or “How long have you been in the country?” conversation.
I wonder what to do with myself in this newfound moment of stillness, which is about to last even longer because the bridge just went up. (I swear it has a sensor for whenever I pass by—“Yep, I see her. Ale is coming close. Time to go up and stop traffic for a while,” the evil bridge handler says.) In retrospect, I think it was the universe giving me a sign while I was still close to home.
The bridge goes down, and we continue on our way. A soft breeze slips through the window—such a good day today. We find no other obstacles, unless you count me almost dropping my matcha (which I don’t, because I caught it in time—yay me!). And then it happens.
It was too good to be true.
As we get closer to the doctor’s office (meaning we are already 30 minutes away from my apartment), a vision of me taking out my wallet last night to pay for a show application comes to mind. It highlights the part where I leave the wallet on the desk, right next to the iPad—yeah, not back in the bag currently sitting next to me.
“Coño, Alita, ¿por qué eres así?” I think, as I also remember that I lost my mailbox key last week—nowhere to be found. I’m dreading calling the landlord. I don’t know why. These things happen to people all the time, right?
Though I can hear Dito in my head: “If you have a place for everything, and you put things back as soon as you’re done using them, you’ll never lose anything ever again.”
Well, the keys had their place. So did my wallet… I just forgot the putting it back part. I forget that a lot… ay ay ay Ale Gotera. You need to do better. Also, buy some AirTags.
