My 18th birthday

Posted January 27th, 2024

Believe it or not, today is my 18th birthday...

Why can't I accept the years I have?

Absolutely not.

I don't deny my age, I don't deny any of the years I've lived.

I have never chased an age that doesn't belong to me.

But for me, my date of birth, or perhaps it is better to say "rebirth", was the one in which Umberto Maria entered my unhappy life.

I have lived an extremely miserable and unsatisfying domestic and romantic life.

And I had reached the end of the race.

I couldn't pretend to smile anymore, to "give, give, give" hoping to receive and invariably humiliating myself with yet another disappointment.

Today, when I receive emails and messages from people, men and women, who are depressed because they are trapped in a sick or unmotivated or dangerous relationship and don't know how to get out of it... my mind goes back to 18 years ago, and I shudder.

It is not easy, I admit, finding true love. And it doesn't always happen to everyone.

It happened to me.

I saw a "light at the end of the tunnel" of oblivion, and I even said this exact phrase live to Pippo in my last appearance on "Domenica In" in 2006, exactly 18 years ago.
Umberto Maria guided me out of a devastating and dark past and taught me the joy of living "no matter what", the sincere and deep smile in the soul, mutual respect and total trust.

Yes, yes, today I am 64 years old, but at the same time I have the youth, the vitality, the exuberance of a love of "just" 18 years old...

HP