73. Friendship, by Juan Piña

Today’s post is a little bit different.

The majority of it isn’t actually something that I wrote (you’re probably happy to hear).

Instead, it was crafted by my beautiful friend Juan Piña. 

It’s about friendship. 

Friendship has a very particular meaning in Argentina. You could even say that Friendship is the single most important relationship we, Argentineans, have.

Friendship is the corroboration of the soul. The only real source of vitality.

Maybe that’s why we dedicate a special day to it (the Friend’s day is as big as the Mother’s day) and some of our most important characters in history have dedicated their time, thoughts, words and works to Friends and Friendship. And if you’re receiving this email, is because you have an Argentinean friend.

This is a very special commitment, but it comes with no demands. As Borges use to say ‘Friendship does not require frequency (…), especially the friendship between brothers, does not. It can do without frequency or regular contact’. It means that wherever I am - be it London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires or any other place - you’ll always have someone to rely on. It means that, even if we haven’t spoke recently, we’ve been in each other’s thoughts.

Maybe because of all of this, this message is not necessary. We’ll see and talk to each other again. This message is far from a good-bye. This message is just an acknowledgement of my appreciation and gratitude. I’m thankful for knowing you and for sharing this time together. You’ve been the best of these years in the UK.

I love that. It’s beautiful.

And in a world where it’s so very easy to get wrapped up, distracted, stressed and generally pulled in a million different directions by trivial nonsense, I think it can serve as a reminder of perhaps, the more important things in life.  

A big thanks to you for reading this, and a big thanks to Juan for writing it.