Oh, well,
by Leonor Henríquez

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      It is an expression that, when faced with not so favorable news, acts as a mitigating factor, and conveys a certain relief.

What I didn’t know was that it was going to become my future project.

I recently told my children that, if I reached the age of eighty, I was going to get a tattoo on my forearm with those words: Oh well…!

They laughed, of course, and told me: yes, mom, if you want, you can also get a “piercing” in your tongue.

The fact is that I have my reasons for this mid-term plan, and also for another more serious purpose.

I want to work on a quality that I decided to have well trained when I arrive at the eighth floor.

Flexibility.

This word, similar to that other one, so fashionable nowadays, resilience, which gives me nightmares, because it reminds me of my Materials Resistance classes when I studied civil engineering in Caracas.

Flexibility, in human terms, is the ability to adapt.

I want to be eighty and flexible, not only in body but in spirit, so when people say to me, come on, let’s go, get on the motorcycle, on the plane, on the boat, on a parachute, wherever.  I will say, yes let’s go, always. Without causing problems.

I learned recently, beautifully and toasting someone special, that flexibility is a simple way to make ourselves and the people around us happier.

In conclusion, as you can see, I have two medium-term projects.

And in case you are still wondering why “Oh well..  ”?

I will wear that expression on my forearm to celebrate that golden age, of relief, of pure joy, of mission accomplished.

My mother used to say that after eighty, one is already at the Oh well! age.

And why? They asked her with curiosity.

Because when I die, and they ask how old I was?, 87…

– Oh well…!

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