Prologue

I was barely six years old when my mom taught me the most valuable lesson ever. It was august, a Thursday, according to her telling me this story. The highway was empty, aside from a couple of trucks, our departure time was perfect to avoid traffic. While my mom was driving, I watched her from the backseat, with a winter hat too big for my head while holding a picture of her holding me in her arms in front of our house, our ex-house now.

- Why do we have to move? – I asked her while examining the photo.

- Because your dad changed jobs, and he needs to live closer to his office. – she answered calmly.

- I don’t want to move. – I answered a Little scared.

My sister had told me days prior to not express my discomfort with the moving, she said that would get my parents angry.

                - Why not? – she said in the calmest way possible.

Once relaxed, I could finally go on.

-Because my Friends won’t be there. – I said with great sadness.

-But here you’ll make new friends and growing up you’ll know new people. –

I stayed silent while looking through the window.

                - Aren’t you excited? All that new people you’ll be able to meet. – she added trying to break the silence.

                -  But why do I have to lose the friend I already have? – I answered defiantly, trying to hide my fear.

My mother, as always, had the perfect answer to the wreck I was in that moment.

                -Everything changes son. – her words instantly connected with me.

                -You, me. The places we inhabit. –

The car stopped because we were nearing a tollbooth.

                -All that changes quite a lot. It’s a part of life. –

After a break to pay the fee, she continued.

                -Life is change, everyday there’s a little bit of change. Today you aren’t the person you were yesterday, just like in ten years you won’t be the person you are today. –

In my head a lot of questions were forming. “What if the change that comes is bad? Does it mean that I must change everything in my life? I can’t be certain about anything?”. I never could express those doubts, she answered them even before I could ask them.

                -Sometimes there are changes we see as bad. For example, you see the moving as a bad thing, but you don’t realize that in a few years you might meet your best friend for life. –

As she went on, I saw how close we were of arriving to our new house.

-Changes can be hard, they can make us sad, they can hurt. But at the end of it all, those changes are what guide us towards love, towards greater happiness than the one we had before. –

As I watched her, she took a control, opening the gate of our new garage. Even in that moment of doubt and discomfort, I couldn’t help but marvel at the size of the house, it was more than double the size of our old apartment. Mom parked slowly trying not to hit the car on the side, dad’s car in which he and my sister arrived a day before.

                -Change teaches us to feel pride for every problem we overcome. –

She turned to me with her hand, waiting for me to reach out to her.

                -Promise me you won’t be afraid, that you won’t cling to it. – she told me while holding my hand.

                -Now come, let’s see what’s at the other side of the door. –

I was six years old when she taught me.

I am twenty-eight years old today, on the day I must teach my son this same lesson.