"Never Let Go..."

        Life isn´t easy! There are moments that life looks like a "bitch"! The ability to overcome these moments lays on the strenght that comes from the heart of each individual of a group. The strenght to protect and being protected. The strenght to hug and to "never let go", even if our life is in a great danger. Friendship, loyalty, respect, trust, love...

        Today I woke up thinking about my friend and "brother" Isidro, who died in 1989 in a motorcycle crash ... I remember one day he "didn´t let me go". We were spearfishing in Cabrito (a small locality in Pico Island, Azores) in a winter afternoon. The sea was rough. I made a dive and speared a fish on a small cave. The spear got stuck on the rocks. I went into the cave to release the spear, but it was in vain. The speargun string, somehow, got wrapped around my leg. When I couldn´t sustain anymore my breath, I came out of the cave, but I got tied to the bottom. I remeber taking my hand to the knife, so I could cut the string. Unfortunately it was also wrapped on the string... I remember unbuckling my lead belt... I don´t remeber anything else... I just faded away... When I woke up, Isidro was struggling through the waves pulling me to shore. He didn´t "let me go"! The first time I saw "The Guardian", starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, I couldn´t stop crying. Everytime I see it, it reminds me of that day. This film turned to be one of my favourite movies ever.

       Many times I wake up in the night and still hear his voice calling... I still hear his incomparable laughter, after being on shore! The afternoon he left us, I wasn´t there with him... I let he go away!!!

      Life never was the same for me... "never let go" is an expression that follows me in my head. Even as a teacher, I never extrude a student from my classroom... Somehow, looks like Isidro turned to live inside me...

        I remember a rough sea day, in Arcos (Santa Luzia, Pico - Azores), a few years ago. I saw two guys preparing themselves for a spearfishing dive. I knew that the sea wasn´t proper for the activity. When I got there, they were on the water. Big waves started coming in. One of the guys tried to come to shore, but he wasn´t doing good. He was about to drown. His partner managed to come in. Isidro gave me strenght and lucidity enough to get down the cliff, and wait for the right moment to pull him in. After that, big waves came in... One or two more minutes later we´d be crushed against the rocks. I didn´t know who were those guys. They were 2 american guys on their Summer Vacation in Pico. After that, I discovered he was married to Christina, sister of one of my childhood friends, my friend Leo.

       "Never let go" a precious life! "Never let go" someone you love! "Never let go"... a friend!  Thanks Isidro, for never letting me go! Thanks for being my "Guardian"!

http://serounaoserverdade.blogspot.pt/2012/01/o-amigo-que-vive-dentro-de-mim.html