Back to the Future - Part II

Looking back one year, Torgit and I were almost at the same stage as today. - We packed our van and prepared for our first big trip. - It was going to Croatia. When I look back next Saturday, one year began our "Back to the future" - Part I

At the time I wrote: "...For one thing, a long-time teammate ( ½ Austrian - ½ Croatian) has been raving for years about his hometown of Rovinj, as the most beautiful town in Croatia, if not the world..." Today I can confirm, Rovinj is nice, very, very nice.

Why I'm thinking about this today in particular has several reasons. Let's start with the last one first. While I'm standing on a dirt road with a very special racing bike, I get a phone call. I have exactly the above-mentioned teammate Zoran on the ear. He begins with the words "Since you knew my father well..." - Shit, he informs me of his death. In such moments, one becomes aware of transience once again. - Zoran's father Mirko's house was our first port of call in Croatia. We had our Hector for only a few days and were looking forward to sleeping on the bus as many nights as possible. But we had made the calculation without the "old Croatian" and his son. "Of course you sleep in the house, you are our guests...". Immediately we had our own apartment key and feel like home. It was nice that we could get to know him. We met a special person and had a great time there. The good ones always leave too soon. 

During the phone call, I sit down on a bench below a linden tree. When the conversation is over, I remain seated for a moment. - Once again, I realize...

Once the decay is complete, transience catches up with us.

Am I melancholic today? - No, quite the opposite. - But I have been thinking about life. And to the life belongs now times the death. Why I had to think about it just today was because of the above-mentioned racing bike. With this racing bike I connect several special moments in life. This racing bike, which normally hangs in the garage of my big brother Dirk, used to belong to my dad. Formerly means almost 35 years ago. Today one would say vintage to it. It's certainly worth the same in Euros today as it used to be in Deutsch Marks. Even back then it was a pretty exclusive racing bike. - But the special thing for me about it was that my father rode a racing bike with me. We didn't do much together back then. -I'm sure it was because I was the youngest. So the age difference was already somewhat larger. But certainly in those days it was not yet so common that father and son did something together. But we rode racing bikes together. And that made the whole thing something special. 

When I went for a little spin on this bike today, these thoughts came up. Thank you little brother for taking such good care of this bike. Never sell it. 

But that was not the only look into the past in the last week. Our sales activities of the last weeks had led to the fact that we have made a lot of old and new acquaintances, or have rediscovered people. But one contact in particular pleased me. A young lady commented on something particularly positive under one of our Facebook posts. Since one asks oneself yes who comments there in such a way. With the name I could first do nothing, but then I noticed that we have the same hometown. Also the one or other common contact. I started to wonder. And then came the flash of light. The young lady was my great cousin, whom I had never seen before - a nice thank you from my side followed, greetings to my cousin, whom I also last saw many years ago. In consequence, it turned out that she lives around the corner. 

Shortly thereafter, we sat with her, her son and your father, my cousin in a nice restaurant. It turned out not only that we like the same restaurants in Cologne Südstadt, but especially once again that blood is thicker than water. Although you and I have never met, and my cousin and I haven't seen for years, we immediately felt "we are family. - Do you know this feeling?