My Dear Friend Is Near His New Beginning, Once Again.

My Dear Friend Is Near His New Beginning, Once Again.

Frank had a ‘fro that could rival mine back in our teenage years in Tallaboa-Encarnación. We used to joke about it - “y todo por un afro” - sharing that laugh until we both lost our hair years later. But that’s how I want to remember him first: young, with that magnificent hair, a real character in every sense of the word.

As I close this day, I have learned that my childhood friend Frank is very close to beginning his journey to his new life.

Some of you may not know him personally, but you may already know him without realizing it. Frank became one of my main characters in “Encuentro Cercano en Tallaboa” - both the first and second parts. His own direct influence and inspiration fed my imagination while I wasn’t even looking. Incredibly, I’m not even sure if he ever had the opportunity to read about himself in that fictional realm. I hope he did.

This will represent his second opportunity at a new beginning - or perhaps his third, if you count the kidney transplant that gave him years he otherwise wouldn’t have had. That transplant was a true blessing, a genuine second chance at life.

It was Frank who helped me understand many of the symptoms and complications that my son Ed was enduring when he had to begin dialysis following his kidney failure. Sadly, as some of you know, my son had his own new beginning last January, after succumbing to the complications of renal disease secondary to diabetes. Unlike Frank, Ed never got the opportunity to receive a kidney transplant.

This understandable sad moment is not easy to accept. The stories of new beginnings are becoming more common than we want to recognize as we advance in age. That doesn’t make them any easier to bear.

For those who had the opportunity to meet Frank, he was humble, kind, happy, and a true friend - in my stories and in real life.

What else can I say? I love you my dear friend, and I will sorely miss you, although I have one last request. Don’t forget your way to inspire my stories. I’ll waiting.