Today is Saturday August the 4th, and while drinking my coffee to go to the office (yes, on Saturday), I started thinking about the date. Today is the birthday of one of my best and oldest friends, a friend I have called a total of 19 times in the last 20 years for his birthday, also a friend who I know would not forget my birthday, and I can always count on.
T. and I met in "Basico" (First grade), and were mad rivals for many years. We were back then the best students in our class, and raced through our Spanish and Math books, ahead of our classmates. We were not real friends in school, but the rivalry between uo turned into friendship, and has lasted for 2 decades.
Every year I spent my summer holidays with my parents in Germany, and every August 4th I waited until 2 pm German time, to go to a phone boot and using 5DM coins (or coins from whichever country we were in), call him and wish him a happy birthday. Many times I woke him up, his parents knew I was calling from overseas.
5 years ago I was in China, more specifically in Shigatse (Tibet). In my trip diary an entry on August 4th says "Despues de la comida fui a llamar a T., que estaba cumpliendo años. El no estaba en Bogotá, pero su papá me dió su celular y lo llamé. Vaya sorpresa que se llevó". Only once in the last 20 years we have not talked on the phone on his birthday, 4 years ago. August 4th 4 years ago I was with my father in Tanzania, and the trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro started at midnight that day. Since I knew we were going to be in a place where it was not possible to make a phone call, I asked a friend in the US to send him a message in my name.
T and I both understand and have lived in cultures different than the one we grew up in, we both feel we belong somewhere different than Bogotá, and we have the same understanding of friendship, something I have discovered is not necessary the case with people I am friends, that I have met over the past years.
I don't know where he will be in 5 years (I hope London or Berlin), nor where I will be in 5 years (I hope Boston), however, I know that today in 5 years I will be calling him, and wishing him a happy birthday. It is great to have such a great friend, and it is even better to know that the friendship has now lasted 20 years, surviving our teenager years, and our first steps in an independent life, which is a good omen for the friendship.
T and I both understand and have lived in cultures different than the one we grew up in, we both feel we belong somewhere different than Bogotá, and we have the same understanding of friendship, something I have discovered is not necessary the case with people I am friends, that I have met over the past years.
I don't know where he will be in 5 years (I hope London or Berlin), nor where I will be in 5 years (I hope Boston), however, I know that today in 5 years I will be calling him, and wishing him a happy birthday. It is great to have such a great friend, and it is even better to know that the friendship has now lasted 20 years, surviving our teenager years, and our first steps in an independent life, which is a good omen for the friendship.
Esto lo leo y lo releo y me hace sentir orgulloso de nuestra amistad. ¡Que siga fuerte por mucho tiempo más, no importa dónde estemos!
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