For the past eight months, I have been asking and answering the most important questions: Where do you want to have dinner? What do you want to do today? What country do you want to see next?
I sometimes felt like a lunatic, sitting on a lone hotel bed talking to myself:
“Ok, do we have enough money to see south India?”
“I don’t think so. Plus I’d rather go to Kerala when we have much more time.”
“I know! But who knows when we’ll be back. We should definitely go.”
“Oh, you’re such a free spirit.”
“No, you are.”
Ah, those were the days. Now, upon crossing into the West, I’ve found myself in the arms of several friends. Shit. I mean, I want to see my friends. I have yearned for some time now to be in the presence of someone who already knows me and why I’m me, someone who doesn’t need to ask from where I come, how old I am, and how many siblings I have (and then, like everyone does, say ‘Oh, you’re an only child. You must be spoiled. Ha ha ha.’).
BUT… This is the abrupt end to my independence. Now I will have to be asking questions and waiting for someone else to answer. And when those answers are not the same answers I would give, I might have to…. compromise! Yikes. No No No!
Compromise!? Why? How? It’s all hogwash, I say. But these aren’t travelers who will recede to faraway lands and occasionally say hello to me on Facebook. These are people I’ll be seeing for the rest of my life. So here I go, armed with phrases like ‘I’m open to suggestions,’ ‘It’s your turn to choose a restaurant.’ and of course, ‘I could go either way.’
Alas, the days of letting the wind carry me wherever I please have ended. I guess I could possibly work to prolong them, but now I will have to ask out loud, “Is it ok if the wind carries us to wherever we please today? Did the wind just carry you to a place that pleases you or shall we use our feet instead of the wind to get us out of here?”
Sigh.
It’ll be okay. As long as my friends mostly want to do what I say.
Roberto wanted to go bowling. I wanted to drink wine in a cave. Here, we are in a cave. Compromising at slow start. 
Melissa wanted to go to the Prado and sketch Goya’s works. I wanted to go shopping. We compromised by shopping.
Um, my compromising was not going well here. I tied Catalina to a leash so she would go Javier Bardem hunting with me. And I made her wear a diaper so she wouldn’t slow us down.
Here the compromising is getting better. I came to this park because she wanted to. But when it was boring, I pushed her over the ledge. Sorry ’bout that Catalina. How’s your cast?