Epilogue
One day I am gonna grow wings.
A chemical reaction, hysterical and useless.
And so it is, the time to go back home had inevitably arrived. With my last ticket at Changi Airport, after spending one week in Singapore, I was ready for a long route heading back to Europe, with a quick stop in Bangkok and Cologne. Somehow, it was the time to draw a line and sum up the experiences in the past three months. Can you ever imagine how much things you may see in such a short time? And ironically, when you have seen so much, everything seems never enough anymore. It’s a strange side effect: if you are an avid eater of knowledge you can’t stop anymore, you want to keep moving, you want it all. But unfortunately, if you are not a millionaire or neither you want to live like an homeless, you don’t have any other chance but stop for a while.
I made a quick stop to the toilet, I looked to my face on the mirror and I saw brand new white hairs and wrinkles on my face. Did I really aged this much in just three months? Or it was a sign from fate, to remind me all the streets I walked by, there, impressed in my forehead forever? For sure, though I didn’t know what it was going to be with my own life, I was sure to have reached a whole new level of awareness. Whatever it will happen, I thought, I will enjoy the journey.
Once landed in Milan I rejoined with my best friends Gianluca, Daniele and Valentina, the ones who supported me through all these years, who were there for me all the time to downplay my dark thoughts. We went to the Radiohead concert together and, being the 20th anniversary of that masterpiece titled Ok Computer, the setlist that night was full of songs from the album. I still remember when in the 90’s my eldest brother took that CD home from Paris, how many times we played it together in his car heading to the nearest beach, with the summer breeze moving my hair through the window. I have always treasured this memory in my head through all these years.
But that wasn’t the only thought in my head. With my eyes stared at the stage, while singing along the songs, that night I saluted all the wonderful folks I met along the road, whispering thank you to each one of them. To the ones who are traveling by months or years, to those who moved out of their comfort zone exploring all the possibilities out there, those who found an alternative way to survive, those who hold on instead of let go, those who embrace the unexpected in their lives.
I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers says the main character in A Streetcar Named Desire. Well, after this experience I understood more than ever how kindness — both received and donated — may fill up your empty heart better than anything else. From New York to Hawaii, from Sydney up to Cairns and Singapore, I cherished all the endless talks which fed the avid curiosity of this little dwarf of mine and have been an endless source of inspiration and motivation. All the jokes and laughs, every arm I got around my neck, every story I heard, every kiss I shared. I whispered thank you to everyone I met, grateful that fate has crossed our paths. You know where you are, or better, where you always will be: here, forever in my memories.
Suggested Sountrack
Radiohead, Let Down
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