I remember 2021. By Miqui Otero

I remember that We started the year trying to forget the previous one.

I remember the first song I played in 2021 was The Only Way Is Up: Otis Clay saying nothing could be worse. I remember dumping the salt shaker. I remember cleaning the house the next day and a Pocoyo doll floating upside down in the toilet as in the end of The great Gatsby.

I remember hours later of a girl with bangs and a crucifix tattooed between her breasts, going out in top less with hands up from the rave in Llinars del Vallès. I remember thinking about Nonviolent Resistance and the hangover.

I remember seeing a box of Mandarin flan in the cupboard. Powdered preparation for classic flan. Six envelopes for five puddings each. You add the sugar. We used to cook them during the first confinement. I remember that the expiration date was April 5. I remember preparing them and, once done, saving the box to only then discover that they expired on April 5, 2020. I remember thinking that we actually forgot that year. OR we confused the years as children confuse the days.

I remember to buy myself About happy life, Cicero, and forgetting an hour later in a subway seat.

I remember the colors of the rainbows fading on the balconies. I remember the already gray banners of “Tot anirà bé & rdquor ;. And from “Ens en sortirem junts & rdquor ;. I remember when we did not share an elevator and when an elderly neighbor passed me on the path that went from the door of the farm to the elevator to catch it earlier. I remember his cane.

I remember see the parade of the Magi for the television. I remember seeing a guy with bison horns storming the Capitol. I remember thinking about whether Araceli would have side effects after being vaccinated for the first time in Spain. And if he would be watching the same channel as me.

I remember a jovial Asian girl doing aerobics with a mask in front of the camera, while from behind the tanks marched towards a coup in Burma. I remember thinking that we were all that girl.

I remember remembering when we left our shoes at the entrance. And of the surface virus. I remember when some parents scrubbed tomatoes with bleach. I remember cleaning (only once) the pasta packets with Cristasol.

I remember thinking that we would never do things like that again. I remember when we ate without a mask in crowded bars but we used it to go to the bathroom. Yesterday.

I remember the phrase “Repentant Deputies of Ciudadanos & rdquor ;. I remember that the news happened in Murcia. I remember the pardons.I remember the closed bars. I remember sharing Doritos and cans with my friends at a playground. I remember that once the police entered and I took my child in my arms, as if he were a human shield.

I remember the first time that my son (4) called the place where I lock myself up to write “case & rdquor ;, study and office crossroads.

I remember when he told me that he only had him fear of meteorites. And I told him that if one of them came, we would find out earlier so that we could flee. I remember him answering: “Well, the dinosaurs didn’t see it coming & rdquor ;.

I remember when my daughter got the two central milk popsicles (1). With diastema, like mine.

I remember a bar in the Raval where there was a banner that said: “Maximum capacity: one person & rdquor ;.

I remember going to Madrid and suddenly it was like traveling to Narnia.

I remember when they were able to celebrate the anniversary of the death of my aunt Felisa, just one year after the start of the pandemic.

I remember the first time I heard the song They told me you don’t live here anymore by Wild Honey. And from the first time I heard the verse: “I closed my eyes, many years passed & rdquor ;.

I remember the megawatt price and to think that they should expropriate the electricity companies or, at least, change the name to Megawatt to make it less bulky.

I remember when people talked endlessly about exhaustion, fatigue, and exhaustion.

I remember when they talked about care and sanchez dogs. With much insult.

I remember the chapter of ‘Peppa Pig’ when she wants to learn to whistle and cannot and discovers not the whistle but envy.

I remember when the volcano on La Palma always appeared in a little box in a corner of the TV, like a lava lamp on the stretcher table. And from when they learned that Las Palmas was not the same as La Palma and not as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

I remember when Omar Little died and wondering if there would be Honey Cheerios in heaven.

I remember John Lennon’s colorful shirt on Get Back.

I remember going to see the Behold the man de Borja in summer. In such rare times one can only pray to such a Christ.

I remember buying red sneakers after always saying that only men with a crisis in their 40s bought them.

I remember Carmen Martín Gaite marveling at Retake them about how easy it is to talk.

I remember to rescue the latest plastic bottle of white label beer from Mercadona, trace of a purchase from the first week of strict confinement. I remember thinking that if I drank it, it would all end. I remember that it was broken.

I remember see Messi cry because he was leaving. I remember a Messi doll in a souvenir shop on the Ramblas at 50%. I remember a friend who told me that the first time he saw his mother cry was when Montalbán died. I remember when I was commissioned to do a prologue by Montalbán.

I remember the mayor of Vigo yelling “Start the light! & Rdquor ;.

I remember rereading the book I remember, by Joe Brainard, where he reviews his entire life with details that he remembers. I remember thinking that it would not be a bad idea to do the same with 2021, a year that started wanting to forget the previous one and is on the way to being forgotten.

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