Between family celebration and musical trova

It had been some time since I had written here. Actually, these weekends had not been very easy, due to the physical departure of a family member dear to us, and I had not encouraged myself to do so. However, something changed. There were two events that changed the dynamics of my life and made me see that death is part of life and that we must go on, despite the blows we receive.

One of these events was the arrival of several members of my wife's family with enough logistics to spend a pleasant Saturday with the family. The other was the meeting with a couple of troubadours who are united in music and in life. I had not seen these musicians since 2015, the year we decided to move to the Cuban capital and they stayed in Moa, Holguin, so we are separated by more than 700 kilometers.

Both events had something in common: they were spontaneous, not planned.

The result was the same: two incredible evenings.

Saturday, January 21st.

family toast

It seemed to be a normal day and my wife and I were quietly at home doing the household routines. However, everything changed when my sister-in-law, her husband and a first cousin of my wife's arrived. With them came a few pounds of meat, a few beers and a backpack full of illusions and desire to have a good time.

Immediately the women went their way and my wife's brother-in-law and I went the other way. Everyone knew what to do, in a moment we started to cook, put the beers and the bottle of champagne to cool. In between cooking and drinking, a piece of music, an anecdote, a story, a joke.

the dinner

When it was time to eat we had talked about sports, love, family, friendship, politics, children, the present, the future. We promised to repeat this story, but at my sister-in-law's house.
What a beautiful evening we had and what a beautiful family it is. Thank you for this gift of life.

Sunday, January 22nd.

troubadours

If Saturday was a surprise, what happened on Sunday I did not expect it and even less at the time we were notified.
It turns out that two friends of ours called us to tell us to come to their house because two troubadours who are mutual friends were at their house.

When we asked who they were we could not believe it: Fernando Cabrejas and Edelis Loyola. For many people they say nothing, for us they are two great troubadours who have devoted 35 years to music.

What is trova?: It is a musical genre that consists of making music through the guitar and in which the composer, generally, is the owner of his songs. In Cuba we have had international exponents such as Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés or Santiago Feliú. They are for us in an incalculable dimension.

musician in action

We arrived at our friends' house at about 7 p.m. and those present were having a get-together about the Cuban baseball final that had just ended. The arrival of my wife and myself stopped the conversation and the necessary hugs and greetings followed.

It was a special moment of catching up, as we asked each other about our life projects, children, family, work and everything that two friends can ask each other.

The evening was tinged with a charcoal roast pork, a few drinks and everything got better when the owner of the house asked the guests to delight us with their songs. As expected, we were pleased and apologized, because the environment was not the most ideal for singing songs and it was possible to get a bad note, out of tune or forgetting a lyric.

the roast

None of that mattered, they gave us 13 songs and we seemed to be enjoying the best concert in the world.

Another unforgettable evening.

It is true that life has special moments like this one. When you think that something could get worse, it enlightens us, cheers us up and feeds us.

Final thought.

I did not expect to have a weekend like this one because I was immersed in the maelstrom of daily work and the sadness of family loss, but life itself took care of giving me this life lesson: Every minute must be lived intensely, as if it were the last moment of your existence.

From Saturday I keep everything:

• The greatness of the family that unites, heals, cures and nourishes.

• The family enjoyment that made me forget my sadness and made me remember with joy this joyful being who left us.

• I also remember what we ate and the beers we drank.

From Sunday, I also keep everything, but I highlight:

• The pleasant time we spent, between music, poetry, debates.

• The value of friendship, because to see how much time passed without seeing each other and to verify that the friendship is still intact is something very valuable.

• The human quality of all those who were there.

Note: The photos are of my authorship and I am sorry for the poor quality of these, but it is the photographer's fault. In spite of this I decided to publish and upload them.