Olimpio

Only three weeks have gone by, but the calendar says it’s a different year! The last days at work in 2007 were busy, but the perspective of going back home for holidays provided the necessary motivation to cope with the last tasks. And then, suddenly, the day came snowy, the car got full and the road opened up for us. First stop was Niort and the second Burgos. Only on the third day the Portuguese border was crossed and the final destination was achieved. The temperature was high, the sun was shining over the blue sky and the tables were full of delicious food and wonderful wine, which always make the long family reunion’s meals even more pleasant. And then Francisco joined us and everything seemed even nicer! Christmas came and gone, I found out that I haven’t been a very good kid lately, we went for a wonderful lunch with a group of great friends and then, suddenly, when everything seemed to be quite OK, the bad news came… Olimpio had passed away… I am normally quite rational when forced to face death (and other human dramas), but I have to admit that this particular one hurt me more than I expected… maybe because it came as a surprise, maybe because it came at a time which is supposed to be happy, maybe because he was so young or maybe because he was the father of very small kids… but I guess it was mainly because I loved him very much and I didn’t tell it to him neither enough nor recently… and that’s something I cannot forgive myself for… and then, at the funeral, I met so many of these friends I love the same way and, again, I didn’t tell them I do… and therefore I want to say it now: I love you all folks! Even if I don’t say it often, I do love you all! And I never forget you, even if I don’t call you on your birthdays… And I will never forget how much I learned from each and every one of you, or how much I owe you all; no matter how far away I am and how many years I will stay this far away from you. This was the last lesson Olimpio gave me… and God knows how much I learned from him! About books, and about cinema, and about music, and about politics… but mainly about friendship and love and god and these kinds of important stuff… so, Olimpio, wherever you are, I just wanted to say “thank you”… I guess you’ll know what I mean!