Change the Tortilla

Last fall I took a Spanish class from a delightful Salvadoran woman who explained that in her country, there aren’t a lot of tortilla-making machines. Mostly the people mix the dough and pat the tortillas out by hand. After they’re flattened, they are put on the grill until one side is done and then they’re flipped to cook on the other side. Cambia la tortilla. Change the tortilla. Easy peasy. And then she related another meaning for the expression. When something is unpleasant or disturbing, find another way to think about it. I had an excellent opportunity to put this into practice on a recent trip.  Whenever my husband has more than one small bag to carry on the plane, he puts the strap for each over his head and then a shoulder so the straps criss cross in the front. I tell him that it — and therefore he — looks totally dorky, while he maintains that it’s hands free that way and he doesn’t have to worry about either bag falling off his shoulder. Now instead of feeling embarrassed, I have decided to feel lucky to be traveling with Chewbacca. Change the tortilla.