Y si se preguntan ¿por qué no me incluyo? porque la última copa alzada fue la mía, agregando "Salud por la hipocrecía"

After a long sleepless night I finally managed to fall asleep a little frustrated because I knew I had to get up early as it was a special day, but the excitement of knowing that I would see those who I considered my special people disappeared any negative emotion, plus I was starting the year so I promised myself to always be with a positive attitude to any circumstance.

Between so many thoughts and imaginary stories that one has when going to sleep, I fell fast asleep ready to rest. But as soon as I fell asleep, what started as a simple dream ended up becoming a nightmare that when I woke up startled by the alarm I did not even remember; I only know that I had woken up with an emptiness in my stomach of those that give you the feeling that you are on the edge of a roller coaster and the steep descent is coming.

I turned off the alarm and when I saw the suitcase packed, the clothes I had chosen to wear during the old one and above all the gifts wrapped with that big bow on top, I decided to ignore what had just happened and get up excited because I would see them soon. I was also dying to see her face when she realized that her gift was in the biggest box and in reality inside it was only a CD with the real gift which was a video with all our pictures from my first birthday party to the most recent one.

The trip we made was quite a case, the bus crashed and we had to wait two hours for it to be fixed; however, as among the passengers there was a group of musicians who were going to a presentation, they started to play to make the wait more enjoyable.

When the bus was finally fixed we were able to continue with our trip and the joking continued all the way because life is like that, you can always find a reason to laugh even if it is about yourself.

We were supposed to be picked up at the bus terminal to take us home, but when you have everything planned, it turns out that life messes up your plans and makes you live its plans. There was a line from the house to the terminal so we had to wait there. Laughing with irony I told my mom “This trip has been a case, the good thing is that I don't think anything worse could happen”; at that moment as a mockery of destiny it started to rain very hard with a lot of wind. My mom just gave me a “Who sent you to talk?” look but I couldn't help but laugh as I thought that only happened in the movies.

I remembered that I had said that I would see everything with a positive attitude and since we still had to wait for them to pick us up and I had to wait in line to take a bath because the house was full, I decided to take out the shampoo and wash my hair there in the rain. Yes, I know you will think I'm crazy, but considering the fact that those people were going to take hours to bathe and I needed to do something crazy to start the year, I just did it. To be honest, I thought that the people who were there would see me as crazy, but besides my mom who was looking at me with a face like she wanted to hit me with her flip flop, everyone was doing their own thing. In fact, I heard some laughter and when I turned around I saw some street children who were laughing happily because they could bathe for free. At that moment I realized that ironically those who have the least are the ones who are most grateful for even the smallest thing that for many is insignificant.

At that moment it stopped raining so hard and it started to rain, my mom had taken the cloth out of my suitcase and I was already drying off and walking to the bathroom to change my clothes.

When I got out I felt a cold that made me shiver but I couldn't complain because I brought it on myself so I just laughed at myself for looking like “Larry the shivering squirrel” (put that phrase in the google search engine and you will understand). Minutes later the man from the terminal showed up and shared hot chocolate with all of us (which was pretty good to be honest).

Finally they came for us and I ran out excitedly to greet my cousin and my little cousin. However, I only received a simple “Hi!” with a forced smile and a cold, unwelcoming hug, while my mom was greeted with excitement.

I admit that my smile faded a bit but I decided not to take anything personal. “There must be a lot of people in the house and that's why she's rushed and stressed” I said to myself. We arrived at the house and only a few people were there. I greeted everyone with a genuine smile although without much emotion because for me only the two of them were important and not the others for reasons that are not worth mentioning. When I left the gifts, I left the biggest gift excited and laughing like someone who remembers a prank. This caught their attention and one of them said in an ironic tone “She always buys big gifts” and they all rolled their eyes. I just laughed and said “There are gift boxes that will never be as big as the contents they hide”.

At that moment my cousin said “Take the time to take a bath because you take too long and I am not going to rush her children so you can take a bath and be ready on time”. I remembered bathing in the rain and I couldn't help but laugh and I answered laughing “Don't worry about that, the rain was my bath” to which my mom confirmed what I was saying.

Hours later, more people had already arrived for Christmas dinner and as an afternoon prank, my little cousin and I decided to hide in the kitchen to scare her mom. However, we never expected what would happen.

While we were hiding waiting for her mom to go to the kitchen, she came in with the other one mentioned at the beginning and we heard how they both said that I was too unbearable and “Comical” (to use a nice term) because of the comment I had said earlier about taking a bath in the rain.

As I turned and saw my little cousin's face of embarrassment at what we had just heard, I swallowed the lump in my throat and just said inside myself “The Show Must Go On”, so I motioned to her asking her if she had managed to hear what they were saying because I wasn't listening. I felt tenderness watching her face change as she heard and believed that and told me they were talking about dinner.

As if nothing had happened we counted to three and we both came out shouting “Boo” and I had to fake the biggest laugh. They of course kept looking at each other because of what they had just said but when they saw my face they didn't suspect that I had heard. They laughed hypocritically and to get out of there I challenged my little cousin that whoever took the longest to get dressed won.

I went to the bedroom, took a deep breath as I sat on the bed to get the dress out of the suitcase, and let myself fall on the bed looking at the ceiling with my soul aching and the lump in my throat but not a tear came to my eyes.

Hours passed without even realizing it until my mom opened the bedroom door to tell me that it was almost time for dinner. I got dressed fixing every detail that the dress might have and putting on the rings I had brought to wear that day.

As I left I sat down at the table and ate in complete silence. It was time to open the gifts but first the customary toast to celebrate what we had been given before we knew what we had been given. After saying the words everyone raised their glasses with enthusiasm and joy.

And if you are wondering why I am not included, because the last glass raised was mine, adding “Cheers for the hypocrisy”.