We crossed paths many years ago, when I was a university student of 18 and he had already finished university and was beginning his career as a researcher and University professor. A different kind of friend He was some five or six years older than me, but it made a difference at the time. We met during some holidays in Madeira, when I was experiencing one of those summer passions that came and go as fast as a tropical …
Tag: friend
Some people you have never met somehow touch your life in a very special way – it is as if you really know them. In fact you do, because they reach to you through their words, or their work; in one way or another they change your life and you feel truly grateful to them. They become special to you. Mercedes was one of such persons, and last week I was sad to learn about her passing, for she …
A year ago my friend Gabi turned 50 and she was planning a big party with her family and friends, when suddenly she had terrible news: she had breast cancer. Naturally she had no heart for the party so she cancelled it. Now this would be a huge blow for anyone, but when you have had kidney problems for many years, begun dialysis at forty, had a kidney transplant only to have that same kidney removed a mere two …
My friend Guida called inviting me for her birthday party the following Saturday. As things go, my friends tend to celebrate their birthdays less and less. I guess we are all getting old but I do miss some fun in my life, so I was happy to say yes I’d be there; especially when she told me the party’s theme would be “the eighties” so we’d all be expected to show up dressed in something related to that happiest of all …
She was a close friend, one of my best. We got together every Saturday for a cup of coffee and we’d talk for hours. She was a bright girl, petite but very spirited. Sometimes she could be peevish, but we laughed and said she was very choosy, both regarding her friends and her lovers. An unwanted choice She always seemed in great spirits but I knew better. She had tragedy in her life. Her overbearing father – and I …
I met her in high school when I was 14 and she was 16, one year and a half older than me. I believe the first thing that brought us closer together was that we were two tall girls in a world of short people, but we soon discovered we had many things in common. Such as our dislike of the 1974 revolution and the changes it had brought into our lives. It had cost me my native land Mozambique …
She was sitting at a table of the cafe near her apartment, where she often went. As she sipped her coffee she concentrated on her book, when a voice suddenly startled her: “Would you mind if I sat down?”. She looked up and saw a middle aged man looking at her with a tentative smile. As she didn’t reply, he politely repeated the question. Still surprised, she muttered “Why…yes”. As he sat down she looked at him questioningly. He introduced …
