Amores Lejanos (A letter to Jonathan E.)

I feel the urge to write down everything that happened this last weekend in case memory fails me and my imagination tries to play tricks on me. I’ll start from the beginning.

On Wednesday was Pepe’s and Beni’s wedding. I couldn’t make it to the ceremony on time, but we got to the reception. It was ok, nothing extravagant, but the highlight of the event was that I met the groom’s brother: Jonathan. He seemed like a nice guy, so we asked him the usual, what are you guys up to, sure, lets get together later on…..I never thought at that moment how these words would transform the landscape of my (until now) monotonous life.

On Thursday we went to Dock for Laura’s Birthday. We picked him up, had a couple of drinks (a shot called King Solomon), then left Pamela at Tonic and we went to Parqueo, had all the shots on the menu, and then went to take a walk to La Zona. I was sooo sick that day from mixing different types of alcohol that it would be a long time until I can see a shot glass the same way. We even saw an exposition about Duarte…indeed drunk people can’t articulate properly.

On Friday I went to Carmen Luisa, Ana Pa and Jose’s Farewell party at Ferro’s. I danced and had a good time, even got a chance of meeting with Rachel and Fito. After that I headed for the Elsa Party at Quintana. I danced with Tony, but left short after. When I was heading home I received a phone call, picked him up and took him back to La Zona. We walked a little and then ended up in Hard Rock Café. Nice music, good conversation and a dissertation on how proportional your tip must be according to the effort made by the waitress to smile at you and act perky….ours won $50.00, ‘cause she really tried hard.

On Saturday I had to work all day, and when I got home from a hard day’s labor, my sister tells me that they’ve planned a dancing celebration for Pepe’s wedding . We get ready, head out to Jet Set and when we get to pepe’s house to pick them up: surprise!! Not only where none of them three ready, the lovebirds refused to go. We had to take Jonathan back to the Hotel to change, so I dropped my sis at Jet Set. Headed for the Hotel, but right there Indiana calls and tells me she’s waiting at my house so we can both go to an Elsa party at Key West. I pick her up and we both accompany Johnny to the hotel. Once he is (finally) ready we head to the bar. The music was nice, the place really cool and I tried to show him how to dance reggueton. Other people where there, of the kind of: “ups, didn’t see you but I’ll still go on the opposite direction”. However, I think it was a juxtaposition of how the new replaces the old. After that I had to honor my promise to my sister and headed back to Jet Set. There I danced a couple of songs with Galvis, such a charming young man, and afterwards sat down and explained to Johnny all different types of dancing rhythms we have. He promised me he would learn to dance by the time he comes back. After that, and since there where no guys to dance with, we headed to la zona, where my sis took off to Atarazana and I took him to the infamous Parada 77. There wasn’t an ambiance at parada, so we sat on the back and talked, a lot, about a lot of things…and someone said something, and then someone blushed, and then things where written on the wall…and now a song from aventura will never be the same again, and I don’t care anymore If I have to carry the world on my shoulders, for they are very happy now.

On Sunday I had to work, so we agreed to get together, go to the theater and then to Cinema. A change of plans due to Zamudio’s disappearance ended on us at the Museum of Modern Art. It was amazing seeing all those painting and art forms and actually discussing each one of them, and talking about the artist perspectives on its art. Simply mind blowing and culturally orgasmic. After that we went to grab a bite ‘cause someone didn’t have lunch, so we ended in Cherokee. Yep, the best burger in town, period. It has been internationally acknowledged now. We talked a lot there, about marriage, family, cultural perspectives on life together, on mothers, and on how we see the future. After that we headed to the Malecon. Since it was closed we parked the car and walked by the seashore, talking about soo much and nothing at the same time. The see breeze can rust the hardest armors and expose a beating heart, no matter how broken it might be. And promises where made, and plans were tough of....but a plead and a question remained in the air unspoken.

After that I drove him to Pepe’s house to get something… we had a gravy and cheese French fries thing that was decent yet not so appealing. But it served the purpose of confirming that which was suspected : Time, the great provider of wisdom and maturity, has no space on teenager love. It made me take a mental note for a future evaluation of myself in several aspects, but specially to see how much of myself I would concede to put the Me behind the Us…..

After that I drove Jonathan back to his hotel, we talked a lot on the way there and when it came the time to say goodbye a question and a plead still remained, not quite unspoken but rephrased. We said goodbye, hugged each other and headed our own ways. I called him once I got home to tell him I ‘d arrived home safe (very crappy excuse) and to make him promise two things: that he would never give up on his dreams and that he would come back (to me) on x-mas. He promised the first, but only assured me of trying for the second. A part of me was disappointed, but then I realized that it is exactly what I would have done: you can’t promise things that you don’t control, but you can surely try to make them happen. And a little voice on the back of my head said that maybe I wouldn’t be home for x-mas…oh London, how deep in my heart have you stucked. We’ll keep in touch and time will tell, but in the mean time I can look back to my weekend every once in a while and realize that coincidences are non-existent, and everything has a purpose.

Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and think that it was all a dream…maybe once life sinks in things will just go back to the way they’ve always been, but now I have a little raindrop on my shoulder, a reason to see life from a different perspective and an open invitation to a Snow festival in Montreal.

PD: Even though my bubble burst and now the sea breeze will no longer fill my lungs, there are new reasons to look to life on a different perspective. I’ve waked you out of your coma, but you have returned the drums to my heart. Thank You. And don’t worry, the things we said will remain a secret. Scouts Honor.