What remains is love
As I reach the final page, my thoughts return to the people with whom this story began. My parents, who left their familiar world behind. Dorina, with whom I have shared a life. Marco and Michael, who gave me the privilege of being a father. My grandchildren, my family and the friends who stayed beside me along the way.
I have not found an answer to every question about life and death. But I do know how much one person can mean to another. Love does not need to explain everything in order to sustain us. Sometimes it is a hand on a shoulder, a memory we preserve together or the courage, after a difficult day, to be close to someone again.
Marco, your place in my heart remains. Going on with life does not mean leaving you behind. It means carrying what we shared into my care for those who are still here. Michael and my grandchildren, too, have their own irreplaceable place in that love.
To you who have read this book, this is above all what I want to say: do not wait too long to tell someone you love them. Listen, seek one another out and pass on the memories that would otherwise be lost.
If these pages open a conversation, offer someone comfort or set a small gesture of love in motion, their meaning will live on.
The gold with which this book began, I place once more, at its end, with the people who have sustained my life. With my parents, Dorina, Marco and Michael, my grandchildren and all those who shared their warmth with us. Their love and courage are the wealth I want to pass on. The gold of these pages belongs to them.
I close this book with gratitude.
In the name of all my loved ones.
Renato