The Fall of a Lifetime

I don’t have a lot of friends. Actually, I don’t even need a second hand to count them. I was always different, even a weirdo. Not everyone wants to know complicated people, and I am the worst. Maybe that’s why I have such a sense of humor. Life is hard as it is, so we need to turn things over and think about the other side of the stories: inside jokes are great for that.

My first time spending a holiday out was in 2014. We went to Lisbon, my best friend and I, we spent there nine days. I loved it. It was fun and full of inside jokes for future conversations. We took the train from Porto to Lisbon. The house was amazing and very cheap since it was the first time they were renting.

Have I said that I was a weirdo? The first night I was trying to traumatize her. We were watching Korean dramas, and I was feeling the story, it seems like that I was talking too loud and always saying stuff before it happened. How could she remain my friend? It’s something that I cannot say. Maybe because she is a little weird, just like me.

Those vacations were so much worse, they were perfect! Just like our friendship. The best crazy relation that we have – I hope.

She wanted to go to a TV show, and we went. I don’t want to share too many details about our personal space, but I can say that we woke up earlier than we were prepared to, and we walked twelve kilometers since we didn’t know which trains or buses to catch. We took a train, then we walked and walked. She was annoyed and wanted to kill me because of that – completely right, I was on Google Maps, and sometimes we went a little away from the path. We arrived just in time and there were some stupid girls there that were from the north of Portugal too – they were thinking that they were the last cookies in the package. That’s sad. Sadder was learning that we only needed to catch two buses and one train to get where we came from – instead of walking for life!

I won't talk in detail about our journey into the Sporting's friendly match. She was trying to get me into trouble saying that I was against the Sporting football team because I am a Porto Team sympathizer. That I needed to celebrate the other team's goals. The Sportinguists were almost killing us with their eyes. Especially me.

We had a great time each day, until we decided to go to Sintra since we were close enough. We wanted to see the Pena Palace.

Furthermore, we walked a lot – again, but intentionally. It was so good to have a guide that showed us the place. The man was such a nice person that made our day! Perhaps the day could end here, where I was still healthy. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop there.

We walked, following once again Google Maps to go all the way up to the Palace. We found a writer’s house there that was born near our home, and we checked it. Such a lovely house!

Then, we got to the palace. There were a lot of people there and my friend catch in her eye one cutie young man. I cannot say that we followed him and observed all his details – and that his name as Mitch -, because we didn’t do that. Or did we? Well… The Palace was beautiful, even if the outside was being restored. I didn’t mind living there if I am being honest. A fantasy world for me to write!

When we got out of the Palace, we had all the gardens to check – I heard that they were beautiful. Never got the chance, since I was punished to check those two boys. There was Mitch that we heard the name, and the other one we called Snow, just because he was just like the Game of Thrones’ Character.

I stumbled, managed to control my fall, and as I tried to get up, I fell for real.

“I’m sorry that I am laughing.” My friend was saying it non-stop. “But you’ve fallen so perfectly and beautifully!” She smiled again, saying that she was sorry for not being able to stop and care for me. “I’ve never seen a fall like that.”

I was serious, checking if I was good or if I was hurt. The two young guys were laughing as much as my friend. She tried to help me get near the wall, so I could check myself. She couldn’t stop remembering my fall and giggling about it, feeling bad for not stopping.

I sprained my foot, scraped my knee, but since it was still warm I didn't have the full pain of the injury yet.

“I am sorry that we can’t check the gardens that we paid for. I twisted my foot.” I’ve said.

“Do you want to take the bus, so you don’t walk?” She asked.

“We don’t need to. I am still warm. We can get by foot.”

“Are you sure?” She was worried but still laughing.

“Yes, let’s go.” I've said.

And so we went. Her giggling stopped soon enough. Because I was afraid that my injury could worsen, I was almost flying. She was stressed because she couldn’t meet my speed. I was careless about her feelings since I wanted to arrive at the train station on foot, She was upset because I wasn’t waiting for her. We were more and more apart. She was tired, and I was into survival mode. She did not catch me until our stop. It was hard on her to follow me and be completely ignored. Weirdo, remember? I was focused, and she wanted to kill me. A true friendship, I would say.

And that story, of my best fall nor registered, is one of our best inside jokes. Nothing falls so perfectly and graciously as I did. I do not remember, since I was the one falling, but Tania does. She loves to laugh about that every time that she remembers, and I find it funny too.

Any fall that we see nowadays, she always talks about my great fall. I cannot be great at a lot of things, but at least I had a great fall!

Don’t forget that anything can be funny if you take the time to understand that life is a precious gift that we have – even when we fall!