There are unexplainable things that happen and you can't believe them. Those coincidences that we know that don't exist but yet there they are. I have a long list of women, teachers in life and death that have taught me many things, but the list of men is so short that I can count them with just one hand.
You, my crazy, are one of those fingers. That person that introduced himself into my life in a moment I was searching for the meaning on those changes we're subject to, those earth shattering beings that arrive to stay, with no other option, no excuses or elaborate stories beyond the blood line. I went into a foreign classroom, you sat next to me, cracked a joke, winked and said: "Hi, I'm your cousin, like me now."
And I liked you, I like you, and I will forever like you.
Since that moment, almost 20 years ago, you were always my reference when it came to fighting off cowardice. You, with that enormous strength and that daredevil smile, took me out of my books and my hideouts to go out and live life, to be another teen when all I wanted to be was an adult, to not be that careful and color outside the lines. You proved to me that family may be family, but friendship transcends and teaches; I taught you boring things and you filled my life with risks and adventures that today are the happiest moments I can remember. Never petty, never insensitive, always generous, compassionate, human, and above all, the person that even without understanding it all, without holding back, you were the hand that would help me because it filled you with the greatest pleasure.
You taught me that you can't waste time, that you have to pursue what you want because there's no such thing as second chances, try what you think you'd like and if you really don't, jump and reinvent yourself because what you're looking for is still waiting out there. With you I got my firsts epic drunk rants, those that would end up throwing ourselves into pools fully dressed with our uniforms while singing Mana from the top of our lungs; you forced me to celebrate ridiculous things, to take things lightly, you sneaked cigs for me from time to time, and we stole out parents cars because we HAD to party and at the end of the day, we'll come back home with 50 stories about how we had tempted fate and won, once again.
With you I realized that it didn't matter much to learn how to jump and do pirouettes if I couldn't jump off of a cliff, that it didn't matter what people thought of me if I was happy with my decisions, because I was the one living my life, just like you lived yours. With no limits to dream, to fill yourself with magic, no limits to love or to that incommensurable thirst that drove you to extract every second of life in each day and bask on it.
Even though, today, I can't even come to terms with the fact that you've left us, I don't even dare to really digest these news, I know that you took every ounce of happiness and covered yourself with it, every day of your life. You lived so intensively that you're the light of many lives and not just yours, because what made you happy about your own life was the fact that you could share it with all of us that were lucky enough to be part of it.
The last time I saw you, you scolded me, because I had locked myself in my insecurities, because I hid in my problems and you demanded and argued, vehemently, that you knew I was better and so did I. I want to think that after that moment I managed to show you that I did listen, that I got rid of the baggage and I dared to jump off of the cliff, over and over again, with or without shoes, to the immensity of the treacherous sea, learning how to navigate the waves that broke against rocks that I excitedly climbed back up to start all over again.
It makes me smile, though it is a bittersweet watery smile, that you brought to this world perfect people that will follow your legacy, drinking every moment of life. It makes me happy that you knew infinite love, and I hope that that fire carries you through this next adventure.
You will remain in us, the lucky ones that were witness to the marvelous experience that was to be surrounded of your energy. I already miss you, and I still cannot understand that you're gone.
I'll see you later, Pio.
