Vanity Fair

I was looking forward to the conversation I was going to have with the director of a renowned Madrid museum. We were set to discuss our collaboration for an article in Vanity Fair. I had chosen my new cashmere jacket with my orange Japanese sneakers, so I would exude the gravitas of an older, wiser gentleman but with a playful touch.

 

After finishing breakfast in my hotel, I decided to go to my room on the first floor to have one last look in the mirror, to check if my appearance lived up to that gentleman with gravitas. And then, while rushing up the marble staircase, those playful Japanese sneakers got stuck on the carpet.

 

It didn't feel so much like I was falling but rather as if the ground was being yanked out from under me. After what seemed like minutes I landed with a thud. First, I felt numb, but then a sharp pain flared up my right arm.

 

Half an hour later I was sitting in the emergency room of a Madrid hospital rather than in the director’s office of the Reina Sofia Museum. Even though I was in great pain I had to smile about how life just goes its own way without any regard for the plans I may have. Life doesn’t bend to my will, so I will adapt to these changing circumstances, I told myself, slightly satisfied to notice my own positive attitude.

 

During the excruciatingly slow convalescence of my broken elbow, I held on to this attitude. I tried to distance myself from the pain by observing it as if it were not part of me, and I looked upon the cancelation of a trip to Singapore where I was to receive an award as an opportunity to start writing again. In the early morning when I usually work out, I had coffee with Felipe and spent hours on the sofa caressing Lucy, our French bulldog, which made us both feel calm and content.

 

I told my friends in detail about my efforts to make the best of a dire situation. And it is true, I am a resilient person. But I couldn’t help showing off that resilience as if it were my new cashmere jacket.

 

I was vain when I rushed up the marble stairs to have one last look at my outfit, and I was equally vain in letting people know how well I was dealing with my predicament. Even acknowledging my vanity now is only hiding it under a cloak of frankness.

 

In other words, I’m the perfect subject for the rescheduled Vanity Fair interview.