The Universe Has a Sense of Humor: A Family Fallout, an Eclipse, and a Boat Trip I Was Ready to Take Alone

Last week I went to Mallorca with my brothers and two friends. It was a complete roller coaster of emotions.

We decided to go about a month before, and the build-up was beautiful. All the guys were enjoying it — looking up nice destinations, landscapes, beaches, the nice sightseeing. There is something about planning a trip with people you love. Everything is still perfect because nothing has happened yet.

Then the holiday started, and I don’t want to call it a flop, but the program we made never landed on earth. Me and my brothers have completely different characters and completely different wounds. One of us decided to drink and party every night. Another one always wanted to change something in the program, just for the sake of leaving his signature on it. And me — I was trying to be quiet, trying to accept that not everything should go my way. That sentence sounds very mature until you feel how much swallowing it actually takes.

Underneath it all, what I felt was sad. Sad because I do not have a family which is united. It took me a while to say it that plainly, even to myself. I was surrounded by four people, and what got amplified was my loneliness — not the loneliness of being alone, but the loneliness of wanting a togetherness that isn’t there.

Right in the middle of the week, there was a total solar eclipse, and by some arrangement I can’t explain we were front row — sunbeds at a beach club literally facing it, nothing in the way. We had time to just sit and witness the whole of it. Something passes in front of the light, the world goes dark and strange, and then the light comes back — it was never gone at all. I didn’t know yet that the rest of the week would act out the same story.

On Thursday I took a decision and split the group. We rented two cars instead of one. One car left very early in the morning; my brother and the other guy woke up with a hangover and left three hours later. And it’s okay. They reached us at the location, we shared some nice places, and they enjoyed it very well. That was the first lesson: separating is not abandoning. Two cars can still arrive at the same beach.

Then Saturday came, and we had the big fallout. I had chosen a nice restaurant for lunch in Sóller — the kind of place that is booked out every time — and I had reserved it three weeks in advance, with the vintage bus taking us there. I was made to cancel that booking so we could chase restaurants on the day instead. And in the middle of it, my other brother came to fight with me, because I had been avoiding him all week. He wasn’t wrong. Avoiding is what I do when I’m trying to keep the peace.

So during the drama, I decided to go it on my own. I enjoyed a beautiful meal by myself, and I had time to think and ground myself. And sitting there, I made a simple decision: I wanted to continue doing activities that I love. There was a boat trip I wanted. And as if the universe wanted to underline the point, while I was searching for that boat trip I crossed paths with a beautiful soul I’m still in contact with today. I went back and told them: listen, whoever wants to join is welcome. I am going for this boat trip. Not an ultimatum. Not a punishment. Just, for once, choosing what I love without asking permission — and without closing the door.

They all boarded the ship.

And because the universe always has a sense of humor, that boat took us to my brother’s bucket-list place — Sa Calobra, the paved path through the rocks he had been watching on TikTok. I took him to the exact place, without me even planning it or even knowing it. He told me he really enjoyed it, and that now he could say his holiday was fulfilled. That gave me a rewarding feeling which helped mend a bit of the issues that the family had.

I don’t have a tidy ending. My family did not become united on one boat, and I’m a work in progress, same as they are. But I noticed something: the whole week I fought for the program, I lost. The moment I let it go and simply chose what I love, with the door open, the sea delivered someone else’s dream. The light comes back. It was never gone at all.