“Fuck, I forgot I would pick you up” – comes the message with the loudest laughter.

And so did the weekend start with a little dementia.
After all, technically She wasn’t late. You can’t be, if you don’t even know that you have to be there in the first place.

Using the usual extra hour She gives me every single time we meet, I decided to read a little – so there would be at least one productive activity during that day.
We made plans to conquer the World, but that’s not an overnight project, especially if you live at the exact opposite ends of the sleeping scale.

Are you a Night Owl or an Early Bird?

When the clock struck 3, her car parked in.
I was already outside, eagerly waiting – because I knew that today was going to be an amazing day.

I hopped in and off we went to her place.
She seemed a little irritable at first; and Fire-spitting Green Dragon at second.
I barely got in the car, her fierce rant over the place She works at quickly began, and it didn’t stop for at least 20 minutes.
Sometimes I was wondering if She even breathes, because the words just kept coming relentlessly, but her lungs didn’t seem to grow or shrink – not even a bit. Fast forward a few eyebrow raises, emphatic and agreeing nods later She finished with unleashing hell; verbally.
“Okay, I’m done talking about work. How are you? :))“

Her tone suddenly changed from a mountain ogre’s to a cute little hamster’s.

Unfortunately my attempts to practice Dutch were in vain, her patience and emotional state prevented her from using it in a way that would allow us to properly speak it.
If you’ve ever seen a machine-gun in action, double the amount of bullets it shoots per second and replace them with words. That’s how fast her tongue was lashing.

Before we arrived, some agreements had to be made: Not doing anything useless until we get some work done.
For example:
1. Productivity
2. Cooking
3. Everything else.
Oh boy, was it hard to follow even something simple like this.

When the car parked in and I said hi to the Family, She rushed out for her new GoPro to make a quick photo shoot at her Van. After the pictures were done, She jumped on her laptop and started to put a few building blocks in the Castle of her Dreams.

While She was busy, I choose to practice the greatest physical challenge I’ve ever tackled: The One Arm Handstand.
Over the last 2 years I’ve put more and more effort into achieving this seemingly unreachable dream, but with every step we take towards the things we want or need, the road becomes shorter after each deed.

Of course, no leisure together is fun without a little quarrel or brawl.
All we needed is a little cooking, until at one point She exploded like a dynamite and her shouts flooded my ears like the Read Sea did with the Egyptians after Moses walked through it.

Apparently her Family heard the entire thing, so they decided to peek in to see if everything is okay.
And it was, as always. A small argument is always on the menu, but it’s just a mere bite, not even a side dish.

One of the recipes She chose included a kind of vegetable I still don’t know what the hell it is, but for sure, it needed 3 hours of constant heating.
Every half hour, it had to be bathed in olive oil, as if it was a Roman emperor who was extremely needy for a soft skin.

As the day went by, her fury lessened, piece by piece – but the stress didn’t cease, since there were things that could not be solved in a quick tongue whipping. The complaints were read out loud to every member of the Family. I was there at each one, and She was more passionate at every subsequent try at it.

By the time the food was served, all of us could eat in peace.
As the meal was transferred through our teeth, and the plates became leeg¹, an actual conversation could finally take place.
Ideas were shared, progress was made. Her annoyance couldn’t completely cease, that’s when her mom came up with the ultimate solution to such a case:
“Alright, wine it is“
A mild smile appeared on her face, signaling that She feels better just by the thought of getting wasted with her loved ones in this wonderful evening.

Before we would get comfy, some snacks were made: Fruit salad, chips, and some sweet popcorn to top this night’s cheat-cake.
Her Sister mentioned how all this will affect their shape, I laughed at their thin being. Apparently they call skin “excess fat” on their body. This remark made them both pull out their bellies, trying to squeeze as much out of it as their hands could take – just so they could convince me of their ability to win a sumo-championship.

It’s so lovely to live in a World where people with 50 kg think about themselves as obese.

When the snacks were ready, we found ourselves sinking into a soft couch or hanging seat in their living space.
Even before the wine would hit, I suddenly realized:

I’m sitting in a room full of people I thought I would never have around me.

Her parents were as kind as it gets – the openness I received was more than I could handle. The past started to creep up on me, whispering bullshit in my ears:
“You don’t belong here, you don’t deserve this“
I took a deep breath, looked at them once again – and seeing the warmth in their eyes helped me mute those demons for Life.
Took a sip of Portuguese wine, with a low-key smile, and just jumped back into the conversation without thinking about the bad parts of my former Life.

The quality of intellect in the room was so dense you could almost grasp it. The air was filled with thoughts as deep as the Ocean, and all of knew how to dive and swim.

If I had to pay for the comfort in relation to the intensity I felt it, I couldn’t afford this.

Now I have a clearer picture of how my imaginary family Life will be, especially that not so long ago I thought I won’t even have one in the first place. The amount of respect, attention and benevolence they shared was unreal. It literally took mental effort to accept kindness to this degree.

As the wine bottles slowly started to run out, so did our energy.
Around 3 am my mind stopped functioning, putting the dot on this brilliant evening.

When we ended up crawling to bed, I figured a great secret about the nature of whining:

If someone just won’t stop complaining, smile at them, pour them a glass of wine and see how their stress melts in that fine grape blood they just chugged under a minute.

Take care,
Erik

19.07.2019 – Day 179

[Dutch Dictionary]
Leeg ¹ – Empty