When there's no one left to open the door

You remember that tiny summer kitchen of your childhood, the door which your grandparents use to open with a huge smile on their faces every time you were using your school holiday to visit them. Those smiley faces, those open arms, the sweet sound of their laughter, that minuscule room flooded with the smell of tobacco, freshly baked bread, and wine leaf rolls. The dancing flames in the fireplace, the hard and tiny wooden bench your grandmother used to fall asleep on, the traditional wall carpets with their magical patterns and that precious feeling of familiar safety.

You know there is no one left inside, that door hasn’t been opened for years, only the spider webs are left to whisper sad stories, tales of illness, of pain, of suffering and death. Stories of a long life in which, with every year, with every loss, with every death you’ve become always more lonely, always more cold and more estranged from everything you used to call home.

Yet from the depths of your troubled memory through the veil of time, that suddenly became so thin, those familiar voices echo in your ears:

“ - Welcome back sweet child, such a long, painful wait behind this spider web’s sealed door, are you going to stay with us ‘till September?

‘till the day of the Cross?

That day when swallows head toward warmer lands?

Have you ever noticed how you and these tiny birds are always leaving us at the same time?

How you’re both flying away looking for new horizons and better worlds but always come back, sometimes with the melting of the snows, sometimes with the resurrection of Christ, sometimes with the blooming of the cherry trees?

Have you ever noticed that?

And, re you going to stay with us for a while? There’s grass to be cut and cornfields to be weed, and the cows needs to be milked, there’s also water to be brought from the well.

There are sweet cherries to be enjoyed up in the cherry tree and green walnuts with their unique flavour down by the gate, the forests are filled with mushrooms waiting to be picked, and the creek still whispers its magical stories.

The irises are blooming every spring, and the stars on the night sky always blink, and every morning the birds in the garden still sing.

There’s so much magic in this world of pain, are you going to stay?”

While your tired soul hopefully shudders, you realize it's nothing but a dream.

Those times are gone and so are the people.

The blissful childhood, the familiar sensations, that precious feeling of being home, of being loved unconditionally and welcomed with that ineffable honesty of a faithful heart.

That kind of heart which despite having crossed seas and countries and continents you have never found again, and you know very well that no matter how much time is yet to pass, how many countries and continents you’ve still to cross, how many people you’ve still to meet, you will never find again because it is too pure and precious to give second chances: so once lost it's lost forever.

Time passes taking with it everything and everyone that used to matter and, in the end, perhaps late but you do realize, the only thing that matters is the present and the moments that you manage to live; nothing more and nothing less.

So dear reader if you are lucky enough to have people that you love and that love you in your life, people for which your presence is precious and they ask a minute of your time not because they have business to discuss, or matters to settle, but only because they love you and enjoy the time spent with you, don’t ever deny them that pleasure, don’t ever refuse to be present!

Live and help them live also, in the best possible way surrounded by love, kindness, laughter, and hope, because no matter how difficult life might seem, there can always be much worse to come, but also, much better, and a refusal to live in the present and appreciate the people in your life, won’t solve any of your problems. It will only make the moment when the people you loved are no longer there much more difficult, and painful to bear.

So please don’t ever give up on yourself, that person that you are deep inside, that person that you truly can be, a person full of love and kindness and consideration for their elders, no matter how different and old fashioned they may seem, or how caught up in their archaic habits and beliefs they are, because their loving souls are worth your time.

Also don’t give up on your dreams, don’t give up on your life, and don’t give up on the people you love and the love you deserve to share with them.

No matter how difficult, hectic, or painful your life might get at certain times never allow the cold of the winter to creep into your soul and never allow deception, disappointment, or failure to convert you into someone you don’t want to be.

Life is a most precious gift and only by sharing it with loving souls will you ever manage to find its true meaning.