There are days where she will wear leggings and a blouse that complements her small figure. Her hair is long and smooth and it covers most of her back. But during the winter when the cold makes it difficult to leave the bed, her long locks are in a messy bun on top of her head.

—Thanks for coming!

She says as a customer leaves the store. She wears a fake smile for every person that comes into the clothing store, and later she will have to organize the clothes to make it look nice for the displays. Time couldn’t go by any slower during her shift.

She is not big but she is not afraid of anyone. It wasn’t a good day to begin with, and this boy was in a mood to joke around with someone.

—Hey Christina, come here!

And because they were “friends,” she went over to talk to him for about two seconds, but as she began to walk away, he decided it would be funny to pull on the collar of her shirt.

It didn’t hurt her at all. But she immediately stopped in her tracks, turned around, and looked straight into his eyes with mostly anger, and a bit of tiredness…

He has a smirk on his face as he says -You won’t hit me…

—I won’t take shit, from anyone.

And in one fowl swoop, she left the mark of her fingers on his cheek.

Tina smiles as she recalls this story. She was telling it as we were waiting in line at a grocery store. I don’t know why, but it used to embarrass me when other people could hear her stories in public. But with time, I realized that they liked to hear about her funny life, even though they didn’t know her. With every story that she has and the way she talks about her adventures, it feels as if you are on a roller coaster ride. You never know what is going to happen next. With this gift, it is easy to see that she lights up every room. With every word, every joke, her presence makes people gravitate towards her like moths to light. You want to find out what she says, for the most part.

Because when you listen to the same stories so many times, you lose interest. I don’t know when this started, but it’s probable that with many years of practice, Christina learned to tell stories through her dreams. Always, always, when we were kids.

—Leo, leo com here! Last night I dreamed that…there was a monster, with three eyes and it had one hand with three fingers! And there were people chasing me, and they were dressed up as cats! They were trying to kill me!

—Mmmhmm. Interesting Christina. I’m going to sleep.

I never thought her super weird dreams would turn into something so important in her life. Thanks, Christina for choosing me to listen to your adventures.