I am two and a half months away from turning 18 and becoming an “adult”. Although this is a “good” thing, it means that legally I can not leave my house during quarantine.
My mom is the only one who can leave the house, but she can only go out on Fridays. I jokingly told her that I can go instead of her to buy groceries. She looks at me and starts reprimanding me. She says, “¿Tú quieres que te arresten? Todavía eres menor, no puedes conducir ni salir de la casa durante la cuarentena”. I laughed and told her, “Pero mami, he estado manejando sin licencia desde mis 14 años”. She laughed and ended the conversation with a harsh “no.”
Last Friday, my mom left the house at 6:30 am to go to the bank and to the supermarket. She returned home at 1:30 pm and was tired from standing all day as she waited in a 3 block line for the supermarket and a shocking 7 block line for the bank.
When she arrived home, she immediately sat on the kitchen table and sighed. She was extremely tired, but she seemed extremely anxious to tell us something.
I was curious. I wanted to know what had happened in her abiding trip to the supermarket.
She told me to sit down, which I immediately did. She started telling my family how long the lines were and how everyone in the street was wearing a breathing mask. I did not find that interesting, so I cut her off and told her, “Mami, ya pues. ¿Qué era eso importante que nos querías contar?”.
“Ah, eso. Bueno, entonces, estaba en la línea del banco y había una señora delante mio. La señora tenía alrededor de 45 años. Cuando el señor delante de la señora, que tenía más o menos la misma edad, se da la vuelta y ve que la señora estaba alzando sus bolsas de mercado. Y el señor se le acerca y le dice: “¿Quiere que le ayude?” La señora toda halagada le dice que sí, y ahí los dos empiezan a hablar.”
“¿Y qué más pasó?” I asked.
“Yo estaba escuchando lo que hablaban y lo que se decían. Los dos empezaron a charlar y él le decía que era ingeniero y que ella era parte de una empresa mobiliaria. Después los dos siguieron hablando y él le comentó que llevaba diez años de divorciado y ella le dijo que ella también estaba divorciada. Siguieron hablando y cuando era el turno del señor de ir al contador del banco, se despidieron e intercambiaron sus números de teléfono”
I was shocked. This woman probably met her next love of her life in a bank. During quarantine! When people can not leave their houses. Can you imagine the coincidence? I think it was destiny that joined these two people together.
