Less than 10 days ago, Raquel and I were finishing lunch in the cabin when I got a WhatsApp message from Adriana – “please switch your Skype on … I’ve got something for you”
But to tell this story right, I will have to go back a little. Well, perhaps a tiny bit more than a little.
A few months ago, I was reorganizing my pictures library and came across this one:
This is me, on the right, almost 15 years ago, having some serious fun together with my great friend and best man Kiko.
Kiko and I became friends in the late 80’s (that’s it, folks – I’m talking Last Century here!), precisely on my first day at college – when we shared a drawing table on an engineering design class. Our friendship built strong during the following academic years, and the many more that ensued. When Kiko and Paula got married, Adriana and I were their best man. When Adriana and I got married, they were ours. Destiny even made us neighbors, almost 15 years later and some 5,000 miles away from our home towns.
Parenthood, careers and international relocations eventually got in the way. This, associated to my inability to keep in touch, started building a gap in the contact. The more time passed, the more guilty I felt about it, and the less comfortable it got (for me) to reconnect. Silly. And, as things were, our last conversation remained somewhere in the later part of year 2006.
When I stumbled upon that picture a few months ago, the thought that came to mind was “where are you, my friend?“.
And then I received Adriana’s WhatsApp message last week.
Confused, I switched Skype on, but Adriana’s account appeared offline. Soon afterwards came an invitation from an unrecognized account. “Accept it” she said over WhatsApp. And right there on the screen suddenly appeared Adriana, Kiko and Paula !!! Adriana took advantage of her recent trip to Sao Paulo to visit them, and managed to reconnect us that way.
What made this surprise fantastic is the fact that Kiko was planning a trip to California. And, literally, just over a week after that Skype conversation, Raquel and I were picking him up at the San Diego airport !!!
He spent 3 days here with us, and it felt like weeks.
The amazing thing about true friendships is that they seem to travel across time. Within the first minute after we met at the airport, the almost 10-year gap since our last contact disappeared, and we felt totally comfortable with each other.
From that moment until I dropped him off a few hours ago, we talked, and talked. And when our throats were hurting for talking that much, we talked some more.
It was so great to see him and Raquel getting along as well !
When Kiko was about to leave today, I showed him the picture of 15 years ago. He said we should try to replicate it, which we did. The hair is a bit whiter, there may be a few wrinkles here and there (that would be ME, Kiko – you look good!), the background is different, and a lot of water has passed under our bridges … but the friendship is the same.
To be here on this journey with my family, and now reconnecting with such a dear friend … I couldn’t have wished for more.
Thank you Adri for making this happen !
Thank you Kiko for the visit !
I hope to see you again soon. Next time, the whole party.
Que encontro gostoso… ahhhhh os amigos! Beijos
Great story Alex!! Nice reading you are doing so well. Saludos!
Oi filhao, não sei se e corugisse de mae ,mas achei que v. esta ate mais bonito agora. O Kiko também esta ótimo, Com certeza devem ter sido dias intensos!!!bjs mae
Otimo!! Muito bom ver voces, beijo