From the Beginning.

It doesn’t matter how many years have been. Ten, twenty, no, — thirty years have passed, and I still remember the exact moment I first met him on that camping trip from hell.

I was alone surrounded by adults, my parents and their friends, all of them old enough to be the most boring company for a teenager like me, the food we were supposed to eat came from cans, I still have stomach-ache just at the memory, and the cherry on the top of that nightmare was the constant attacks by the evil creature of all, killer mosquitoes.

So, there I was, sitting on the corner of a rusty bench praying for salvation when I spot him. A boy in the camp next to us, with his arms and legs covered in tiny red spots, I realized then that somebody was having a worse time than me, at least I got in my hands the perfect weapon to defend myself, the biggest spray against mosquito bites.

“Do you want some?” I offered him my spray can, after recognizing the desperation in his eyes, the same as mine.

“Yes, please.” The boy smiled like I just offered him a million dollars. “This morning I ran out of mine.”

Many years after that first encounter, we used to joke about that day and how joining forces against the monsters—mosquitos, adults, and boredom­— sealed the deal of our friendship.

           I didn’t see him again until almost six months later. We lived in the same town but in different neighborhoods, we didn’t attend the same school and at that time, we didn’t have the magic of social media or the internet to keep in touch. Although we did have the landline phones with the privacy given by the awesome long extension cord, I can’t explain why we didn’t exchange phone numbers. I guess we were just glad of being first-time campers’ survivors.

Then, out of the blue, we found each other again as members of the same recreational center. Instantly, we reconnected as if the last time we spoke was the day before, and we turned every weekly afternoon into our favorite playday, into a routine and then into a tradition. Every Saturday that we spent together we were free, we could be ourselves.

Week after week we grew up among adventures and new experiences the good and the bad ones, like the stories about our broken hearts, and the craziness on each family side. We shared our first drinks and the hangover that came after that. He taught me how to dance, and I was there when he got his driving license. We learned about constellations and we watched countless sunrises. We listened to each other even when neither of us wanted to talk. 

Too soon, the teen years were over, replaced by a new era full of responsibilities, worries, and secrets knocking at the door. I was struggling with family issues, and with money problems. Ashamed and depressed I locked my feelings behind a shield, so nobody would be able to see my pain, however, deep inside I was expecting help from my friend.

He never came.

My friend had secrets too. At first, it was so subtle and almost unrecognizable, but then he was just gone. For three years those secrets kept him away. Between my shield and his hidden spot, we forgot how to communicate. Finally, he confessed a story that doesn’t belong to me, therefore it isn’t fair to write it down on these pages.

That day, I asked him. “Why did you hide, why you didn’t tell me before?. You don’t trust me enough?”

He didn’t look at my eyes, that was a clue that I wasn’t going to like what it came next. “I do trust you.” He said, “But you got some prejudices on you.”

His words hurt, after everything we had been through, my friend didn’t know me at all. But then, I stopped to think about his silence and distance, about my efforts to reach perfection in every detail, how people used to look up at me. Even not long ago he told me I was popular among our friends, something that would have never crossed my mind. He was brave enough to point my flaws on my face, and the reasons why he walked away. Maybe, he did know me well.

“I’m just glad you talked to me,” I told him at the end. I sighed in relief.

I had my friend back.

Life continued with its journey, day by day, month by month, year by year, bringing with it new people, challenges, and changes. In my case, I got a career, a husband, and a daughter with all the responsibilities attached to them. For him, it was similar, just a little more complicated. 

The paths that once were entwined pushing us to find each other, took different directions. Although not in opposite ways more like parallel roads, allowed us to see each other, when one of us decided to take a break and rest, letting the other one catch up. 

Despite the changes we kept trying to be there at the other end of the phone in case of need, we celebrated each other success, we shared an occasionally how-is-it-going talk. But there weren’t more Saturday afternoons, no more games and no more nights talking about dreams under the dim light of a post lamp at the end of the sidewalk.

Without noticing, the biggest challenge arrived, bigger than adulthood, bigger than secrets. Destiny offered us a new adventure, this time in different continents, separated by six hours and an ocean. Then, that once-and-a-while get together for a dessert, turned into a maybe someday.

           A few months ago, the promise of one day together again became a reality when a family trip gave me the chance to hug my friend again. There at the airport, behind the smile of a new man with different looks and style I recognized the old boy who used to play with me.

Now, he has an accent when he speaks.  Half of his body is covered with tattoos. He has a different opinion about politics and other priorities.  Still, he hasn’t changed. My friend is the same one that doesn’t drink any hot beverages and hates hotdogs. He still loves the beach but is afraid of swimming. He works better with symmetric shapes and hums indie songs when he wants to relax.

           For a week, we visited new places, I met his friends and I learned how he lives. I added new memories to those many ones we created in the past. Because if I think about it, he has been present in every special moment of my life while as I was growing up. But my favorite memory of all is the one that pops in my head every time that I go to a store and for some reason, I walk near the camping section.  I never developed a taste for outdoors but I love to think about that trip a long time ago and the boy who became my best friend.

           One night after a busy day, my daughter lay next to me and told me. “I hope that one day I find a friend like yours, and we have the chance to live many adventures to tell them to my kids when I’m old.” 

I told her back. “I hope the same, my dear. I hope the same.”