(…) tuve a mi hija y la verdad ése fue un gran momento. (…) Sí, la niña fue algo grande, aunque a los pocos años me dio un disgusto tremendo. El día en que hizo pis ella solita. Sí, no se rían, fue un gran disgusto. Yo me levantaba a medianoche para ponerla medio dormidita a hacer pis y una noche oigo a la niña despierta que se levanta sola, la oigo mover el orinalito, sentarse a hacer pis y volver a la cama y me digo: <<¡Vaya por Dios, me quedé sin hija!>>. Sí, sí, ustedes no lo entienden pero sentir que la niña ya no me necesitaba fue duro. Algo parecido cuando más adelante vienen y te dicen que se casan. Bueno, no tanto, seguarmente exagero, pero me sentí desplazado.
… my daughter was born, and truthfully it was a wonderful moment. … Yes, my little girl was something wonderful, although soon after she caused me a terrible sorrow. The day that she peed on her own. It’s true, don’t laugh, it was a great sorrow. I had been getting up in the middle of the night to take her, half asleep, to pee, and one night I heard my little girl wake up and get out of bed on her own, and I heard her move the little potty, sit down to pee, and return to bed, and I said to myself: “Good heavens! I’ve been left without a daughter!” I know, I know, you don’t understand it, but to think that my little girl no longer needed me was hard. Something similar to when, much later, they come and tell you that they are marrying. Fine, not quite, I’m surely exaggerating, but I felt myself displaced.
Other reviews / information:
This quote is taken from the book Diccionario Sampedro (Dictionary Sampedro; p. 33), which is a collection of excerpts from Sampedro’s works of non-fiction and fiction. At some point, once I finish the book, I hope to have a review of it up on this blog; I’ll come back and update this post with the link when that happens.
The quote originated in Sampedro’s book Escribir es vivir (To write is to live). Unfortunately, I don’t believe any of Sampedro’s works have yet been translated into English.
The translation into English of the excerpt above is mine.
Pulling from the autobiographical summary in Diccionario Sampedro: Sampedro was a professor of Economics and an author; his writings on economics as well as his novels reflected his humanistic point of view.
For my review of Sampedro’s book La vida perenne (The Perennial Life) click here. Published posthumously, the book contains reflections from Sampedro on the various philosophies he explored and studied over a lifetime of curiosity about the human condition. It includes both his own commentary on what he learned, as well as citations from writers, philosophers and spiritual texts world-wide.
Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
My book reviews: FICTION Bookshelf and NON-FICTION Bookshelf
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