Take pleasure in little things that matter
Two stories I want to tell, just for the sake of it.

First story.

Yesterday I arrived home at 6.20 pm. That´s a novelty, since I work in Marketing and always stay late at work, slaved and workaholic like a 21st-century grownup. Not fond of it, but is there any other way to live these days? (That requires another blog entry).

I found my mom trying to use makeup. She still had not put on her wig, and she already put her fake eyelashes and painted her eyebrows. I knew she was trying to fetch energy she didn´t have left to make herself look pretty (she is really pretty, but she needed to look the way she is). Her pulse isn´t very good these days -I don´t know if it has something to do with her chemo- so I decided to give her a hand.

I got to grab pencils, brushes and makeup for the very first time in a long time. I retouched a little bit of her eyebrows, applied more makeup on her eyes and gave her the final cat look with liquid liner. Her face was already blushed and she already put lipstick -she´s good at it, I can barely put lip gloss on myself. Then she was good to go, all shiny like her old self.

Doesn´t sound important, right? Well, it is. I could be there for her, and that matters. I haven´t been there when I was needed many, many times. I had been working in hours that no human being should work, I was away running after things that are not as important as a loved one´s life. And now, I finally am there.

Next story.

Sunday afternoon. Very, very, absolutely umbearable hot day in Asuncion, as always. Lots of things to do, but I felt very needy. I felt the need of living -nope, sometimes I feel like I don´t live or have a life-, on breathing air outside of four walls, of walking outside, getting a little bit of sunshine, and the need of just sitting out and laugh with a dear one.

It didn´t take long to get an invitation of my boyfriend to go to Havanna Café, get something to eat and walk around my neighbourhood in the shopping galleries, doing some window-shopping. His only request was that I had to wear a dress. (I like wearing them, so I didn´t mind).

We went walking like 3 blocks to get to the coffee shop, got to chat and laugh like there´s nothing wrong with the world, at college, at work or in our houses; we abstracted ourselves from reality, and enjoyed each other´s company and the hot calzonis. Then we strided along Senador Long, visiting the small shopping galleries that appear to be a trend. The city is dressed and ready for Christmas, spledidly showing all its lights and Holidays´ decoration.

Ahhhhh, the feeling... of freedom, of control, of happiness. There´s nothing like it.

Now that I remember, a third story.

It was Sunday, December 14th and my house hadn´t been decorated -in all its magnitude, at least- for the Holidays. So low was the Christmas spirit, that it was sad. It was just a reminder that something was not right in my house. I hated that feeling.

So after studying for a very long Marketing final exam, I recruited my brother and my dad, who reluctantly gave up on avoiding the task of emptying the boxes and putting Christmas things around the house.

Then we had to go outside and put on more lights. There´s one complicated light installation that my dad did last year and left for the whole year to wait for the next Christmas. I wanted more lights outside, and after a few refusals, I just got the ladder outside and started hanging from the palm tree. My dad did not have any other way around than to help me out and installing even more lights.

By 10 o´clock at night, we all went out in our pijamas to see the final look of the Christmas installation. We became the most shiny house in our street. Most important, we somehow recovered more shine in our souls. "Now we´re talking about Christmas Spirit", I thought, as I closed the door and recovered the feeling of rightness in my life.