On July 30 we celebrate the International Friendship Day and send wishes to all our Members through the following letter:
My dear friend,
Do you remember when we used to share the pencils from our pencil cases, spoonfuls of ice cream, homemade mixed tapes, our seats on the school excursion bus, scrapbooks full of questions, scrunched up notes, star-studded magazines stacked amongst our clothes, clandestine cigarettes, revolutionary books, tickets for airplanes and boats and buses, cheat-sheets at the auditorium, secret glances in the reading room, three-hour films, grandma’s china, old clothes, letters, blow-up mattresses, chairs abandoned on the side of the road, the sound of our laughter?
Do you remember when the day had three sunsets, when our bare feet stepped on the freshly-mowed lawn, when we lay at the Great Lawn and looked up at the stars, when we wallpapered our rooms with our holiday smiles, or when we knew each other’s dreams the moment they awkwardly fell out of our mouths?
Brand new words, familiar scents, endless get-togethers, borrowed bicycles and mum’s cooking, the keys to our first homes, consolation drinks in a bar that’s already closed, seconds, minutes, hours, days and years, our quiet evenings – do you remember?
We have shared kisses and infinite hugs, we have sat side by side on cool steps, we have screamed at concerts, we have gone round and round the Canal, and so much more, that cannot fit onto this page; I remember it all, I don’t need to ask you.
I wonder, did you take a long journey, did you clean out the storeroom on your terrace or in your basement, did you fly a kite on Clean Monday, did you learn how to make crispy potato chips, could you stand upright on a moving sailing boat, did you print out an old photo of us to add it to an album? All that, and so much more I want to ask you, when we meet.
I’m writing today, on this day dedicated to friendship, because I thought how nice it would be if you were with me now, here, at the Lighthouse, sitting back-to-back, me looking at the sea and you at the Acropolis.
Until we see each other again, until we meet, so that I can be myself beside you.
Until that day, have a wonderful summer.
