Las Aventuras

“El mundo es un lugar mucho mejor de lo que le dan el crédito. Así que lo que te encuentras con algo que te hace feliz en esta vida, que eres bueno, asegúrese de usarlo para probar este hecho importante y olvidado.” (The world is a much better place than we give it credit for. So whenever you come across something that makes you happy in this life which you are good at; make sure you use it to prove this important and forgotten fact.) This was told to me a long time ago, while I sat on a kitchen counter, feet hanging down while knocking rhythmically against the cabinet door below as if to unintentionally mirror the waltz of plucking strings as Spanish guitar filled the air. I was a boy of two lands, two flags, and a heart from both.
This was told to me to by my beautiful Argentine grandmother, who was cooking her grandson’s favorite meal for his birthday. A little redheaded boy; with no interest in world affairs, politics, getting a good job, driving a nice care, or girls. A little boy who had no idea that this woman, who was making him something delicious like she had done a thousand other times before, was a woman who governed a profound depth of intelligence. A depth that was respected by everyone in her family, circle of friends, and colleagues in both her native land and in the United States. Not only was this intelligence as profound as it was full of wisdom, but it was also used to inspire a hungry young boy sitting on a kitchen counter, enjoying his grandmother make him his favorite food while humming in Spanish a tune she had always sang to him since he was little… guitar chords providing the accompaniment.
It is this phrase, told to me many times since that day on each and every birthday that began to develop an understanding that would root itself into the heart of everything that I would love or work I would come to invest myself into. It was this phrase that this little boy, now a young man, uttered to himself as he remembered the legacy she had left for him.
This phrase would come to resonate through the subconscious from time to time as he picked up a pen to write how he saw the world. From simple observations to interpretations of behavior and societal norms, this phrase in turn provoked a sense of cohesion in regards to the little boy I used to be, who I will come to be, and everything in between. That day on that kitchen counter with my grandmother, whether I was aware of it or not, was when I came to know who I am.