Professionally they kept getting better and better. In the year 1986, they expanded and opened offices in Córdoba and in other cities in Argentina. During one of his trips to Córdoba, Felipe visited a little touristic town called Villa Carlos Paz for the first time and fell in-love with it. One year later, he secretly decided to buy a house there to surprise Beatriz.

Their business and offices were doing great. By the beginning of 1993, they moved to that house in Villa Carlos Paz. But funny thing, when Beatriz travelled for her graduation trip, in the year 1977, her and her class went to that same town. She fell in-love with it too and said to herself that she’ll live there one day. Said so and done so. She never mentioned about that dream to Felipe though, somehow, he felt the same way and bought the house. Big causality, right? She desired it so strongly that the universe led her there years later. So, be careful with what you wish for, it might come true…

The family also kept getting bigger. In 1983 Jorge Antonio was born, and died within a week. He is the little angel ever since, guiding and protecting them from above. In 1985 Enzo was born, then Beatriz couldn’t have kids anymore and went into treatment for years. Treatment ended up being too efficient and in 1990 she had twins, Máximo and Thiago. In 1991 another baby was born, Lucca. In 1992, finally the second girl was born among all the boys in that big family. That girl is me, the youngest of seven. Wait, what? Yes, Felipe and Beatriz are my beloved parents. They’ve been married for forty years now. Crazy, huh?

Our childhood was a constant back and forth between Córdoba and Paraguay. In 1998 we bought a house in Paraguay because it was going to be better for the family business and also Argentina started getting bad politically.

We moved permanently to Asunción, Paraguay. Honestly though, I don’t believe the word “permanent” exists in our family’s dictionary. Thankfully we’ve moved around and travelled quite a lot and I love that. -Don’t blame me for being a traveller myself-.

So, let’s process this whole thing. Shall we? Everything started with a silly thing like Felipe being drawn to visit Paraguay just because of a romantic telenovela moment. If it wasn’t because of it, perhaps he wouldn’t have visited Paraguay then or wouldn’t even have met Beatriz at all. If she hadn’t been invited to live in the US, maybe they wouldn’t have gotten married, they wouldn’t have had kids and I wouldn’t have existed. What if she had gotten invited and moved overseas a week before that 25th of May? Nothing of this would have happened, neither this book. What if Felipe hadn’t watched that episode? Or if he just hadn’t felt the urge of visiting that country. What if he had felt it but he hadn’t dared to do it because it’s “too risky”? Or if he hadn’t taken up the opportunity to have done it?

Perfect timing. See? Everything worked out the way and when it had to. How was he supposed to know what it would be like if he hadn’t tried? Thank God he went for it and all this happened. Wow! I don’t know about you, but to me it’s a magical madness. It blows my mind away every time I think about how it works. The more I think about it the more mind-blowing it gets. Isn’t it crazy how we shape our lives with each little decision we make?

***************

From my childhood I have many beautiful memories, but I can’t really talk about causalities back then because I remember it in general but nothing too specific. I am certain about one thing though: The fact that my family and I travelled so much, truly changed my life. I am profoundly grateful for it because thanks to that, I’ve discovered another passion of mine. Travelling opens my mind, after each trip I become a better version of myself.