A Special Coffee

I didn't realize that the text message had been on my cell phone for almost a day. It is happening to me more and more often, messages arrive and I don't notice them. It could be a problem with my cell phone or maybe I need to reconfigure the alarm system.

Fortunately it wasn't too late when I saw it. It was an important message, from Lidia, a very dear friend. I wondered if I could stop by the airport the next day. She would be in the country for a few hours while waiting for her connecting flight to Prague, in the center of Europe.

I have known Lidia since we were children, she came to my school to attend the fourth grade. At that time our school had a combined shift, elementary school in the morning and high school in the afternoon. So when we finished elementary school we both continued studying high school in the same place.

We were both very close. I would go to her house and she would go to mine, we shared a lot. Almost everyone, including our parents, thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend...

However, it wasn't like that. It is true that a few times we got to kiss and let our naughty hands ignite those youthful bodies. But we both had the intuition that our destiny was not to be together as a couple, but to remain friends.

At the end of high school we separated a bit, we chose different careers and she even studied in another city. Despite the distance, we always looked for a moment to meet, have a coffee and share our concerns. The two of us could talk about anything, without avoiding any topic, our trust has always been total.

As time went by, each one of us made a family. I had one child and she had two. My relationship did not have a happy ending but Lidia was able to continue hers...

For a long time, whenever I met with Lidia, I gave in to the temptation to take our conversations to what might have been if we had become sweethearts. Many times I asked her what our life would have been like if we had chosen to live together...

At no time did Lidia mind talking about it, she told me that she has thought about it too, and that from time to time she has wondered the same things...

The good thing has been that after talking about it so much, now we are both clear about it and we have understood why it was the best thing to become great friends...

After half an hour of waiting, I finally see Lidia coming out of the airport hallway. Her face is radiant, luminous, just like five years ago when we saw each other for the last time.

We embrace affectionately and look for a quiet place to have a coffee. The two hours she has free between flights fly by. We barely had time to talk about a few things, to catch up on personal projects. As a great news Lidia let me know that a few days ago her eldest daughter informed her that she was pregnant.

And how did you feel about being a grandmother... I ask her...

Great, she answers, and doesn't stop laughing.

We walk to the boarding gate, hug again and say goodbye until next time.

I wait for the plane to take off and meanwhile I go to the same place where I was with Lidia and ask for a coffee, I sit at the same table ...

I take the first sip but it doesn't taste the same to me, as if something is missing. That also happens to me often. There is something in my taste that seems to activate when I am with friends or someone dear to me...

The plane takes off and I keep thinking about coffee, about its strange taste. I think that since I was a child I have been a coffee drinker, I have tasted it in many ways, hot or cold, with spices or alone, of many brands and in many places.

But what makes the big difference for me is not the type of coffee, but who I drink it with. I am convinced that the taste of coffee is directly related to my mood. Those coffees that I share in conversations with my loved ones, like the one I had with Lidia a while ago, always have a special flavor...

Thank you for your time.

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