Where your happiness is

3 450 kilometers. Berlin to Lisbon, stopping in Genoa, Monaco, all along the south coast of France, Nice, Saint-Tropez, Toulon, Marseille, Montpellier, following the Mediterranean to Barcelona, Valencia, and finally accross all of Spain to the end of Europe, in Lisbon, where the land ends and the sea begins. What an amazing journey!

But it was made shorter by 300 kilometers. The car hit the tree at about 90 Km/h. The stench of burned rubber dangled above the asphalt, the sidewalk, and even a bit of the brown terrain where the oak trees had grown for centuries and would continue growing in the following centuries.

It was all just an innocent distraction. A good joke, the laughter, Robert looked at Angie and smiled infatuated. A sudden curve, a car in the opposite lane reflecting the sun, Robert got dazzled for a second. The speed was just above the road limit, the curve was getting closer and closer, but Robert hadn’t noticed it yet. Angie wasn’t dazzled. Her face suddenly worried, petrified. She saw the car advancing across the road markings. She straightened her back and gripped the door:

"Look out!"

The beginning of a trip is always the most stressful time. The driver has to get used to the the dynamics of the new car. The passengers have to get used to sitting in the same position for hours on end. But then, as the body finds its new ways, the landscape begins to shift from the all-too-familiar and mundane to the faraway surroundings. And then to somewhat known, but not so often visited places. It took Robert and Angie a few hours to catch up with the excitement of the trip. Only around Leipzig. They left home at dawn, when the birds were still asleep in the trees and the farmers' tractors were just leaving their garages. From both sides of the highway, they could see the small woods that randomly interrupted the long and flat open fields, some of them filled with July crops and memories. These fields were nostalgic for trips with children. Every weekend a new destination. A new road trip in the 1996 Opel Astra F they bought from Robert's uncle. The most sold Opel of all time. There were still a few around, and the habit of examining every registration plate, as if looking for an old friend, was still alive in all of them. Both children and adults. Well, in fact, only adults nowadays. Angie and Robert reminisced about all the places they visited in that old Opel. With the two children in the back. Making up games to avoid the "are we there yet" torment. "Look at all those cows! Let’s stop and talk to them!" Lunch in Nuremberg was filled with such memories. Forty years married, but they still had everything to tell each other. Although new stories were scarce, they still fueled themselves with shared moments of happiness. Happy memories.

It should have been around 2005 when they bought their first new car from the deaslership. A big white Volkswagen Touareg that the kids referred to as the refrigerator, to further point out how disappointed they were that their parents had disposed of the old Astra. That’s when the plate game began.

After Nuremberg, they drove faster. There were no more kids to make them stop in every bathroom, play in every playground, or need the surprise of some traditional local food. They just cruised along, past Zurich, Bern, and Geneva, contouring the Alps on the left, all the way to Nice. But it was time to rest. The French coast would have to wait.

It was the first time they were road-tripping alone in almost thirty years. They had been planning this for almost as long. The road trip without a scheduled return. No school holidays or work projects to tie them up. Just a route and a destination. Lisbon was the hot new city these days. They deserved to visit it as well, since most of their friends had already been there. The "Lisbon light" their friends would mention (as if that meant anything). The food. The people. The "pastel de nata" and the "pastel de bacalhau". One was a dessert, and the other was a snack. That provided some funny stories. They should try them both.

But after a week of driving, past the places with past stories of children growing up, there was some silence in the car. Some tension. It’s hard to talk to someone you’ve known your whole life when most of your topics of conversation have grown up, gotten married, and moved away. They found themselves dwelling on the little things. The comfortable BMW they had rented. The weather. Sunny and warm as July promised. The good roads.

It was a difficult conversation, but wanting the same outcome makes for a good start. Robert chose the "Hôtel Amour Beach", overlooking the Mediterranean. Angie smiled slightly. It was good to know they were both still willing to make the effort.

"I’m sending Sandy a picture of this view. Is marvelous!"

"It is. That’s why I chose it."

"It was a very good choice, Robbie."

"Robbie!… You haven’t called me Robbie in so long."

Angie looked happy. Robert thought she blushed ever so slightly.

"You know I still love you, Angel. It just seems we haven’t been together in ages."

"We haven’t…"

"I wanted this trip to bring us together again. We did always love to drive around."

"We did. And I love you too, Robbie. We’ll make it work again!"

They did drive through most of the southern France and eastern Spain, following the coast, stopping at the beaches, and enjoying the seafood and the beautiful scenic landscapes. But most of it was just a big blur. A blur of laughter at the surprised look people gave when they saw a couple in their sixties holding hands. Of rediscovering of the gentle excuses for a light touch: "let me fix your hair", "your shirt is wrinkly". Of a silly laugh that neither of them knew how it started.

The final stretch was almost 1000 kilometers, between Valencia and Lisbon. They would do it over two days, resting and sleeping whenever they felt like it. Enjoying some fantastic Spanish country roads. But the years were starting to weigh on them, and they were glad they had arranged to fly home, instead of driving back. After two weeks, road trips were beginning to sound like a thing for younger people.

When the car hit the tree, Angie felt the airbag on her face. It was already there before the car stopped. Like if a movie frame was cut and nobody saw where the thing blow up from. Even so, the impact was deadly. They would both be dead in seconds. Angie thought about their children. They were all grown up. They would be fine. She looked at Robert one last time. Tried to reach his hand, but he never wake up.

A few days before, as they were leaving Valencia, there was a billboard on the road advertising new villas for sale.

"Buy a house where your happiness is," Robert translated from Spanish. "I think they have it wrong", he continued, "we rent it".

"We did?"

"Yes, we rented the car. My happiness is right here," he said, looking at Angie.