Letters without address - Part 3.

A letter to a true friend from work.

Hi. I don't know if you will ever read these words, I don't even know if you still remember me. But today, when the memories came again unexpectedly - I felt I had to get it off my chest.

I don't know where you are now, maybe you work abroad or run your own business and make people laugh with your unique humor. Because even though time passes, even though life rushes on - there are some people you just don't forget. You are one of them.

I remember my first day at work, how I struggled to find my way around with a trembling heart. You were the first to extend a helping hand and introduce me to all the ins and outs of my duties. You looked at everything with a slight smile as if you knew that this would be the beginning of the best cooperation and friendship between us.

It was not a dream job, sometimes hell, sometimes absurd, sometimes silence so thick that it made your head hurt. In all this cave of inhuman behavior, you were a real diamond. Always going to work in the morning at the mere thought that we would fulfill our duties together made me feel better. I'm not exaggerating - your jokes, humor, your , “let's go smoke” - even though neither of us smoked, or , “let's go for a coffee.” - were moments that saved my day.

You were one of the few who didn't complain, didn't gossip, didn't play silly games. You were just real among others with masks on your face. I could always count on you, when I was having a bad day you were able to give encouragement and distance. Do you remember how often we laughed to tears? Do you remember how we worked together until late at night or even into the morning? Despite the fatigue, time passed very quickly. As time passed, we understood each other without words. I could write so endlessly about what we went through together...who knows...maybe I'll even write a book, because there really is a lot to write about.

But then you left, overnight. I knew that you were planning, that you were looking for something else, something better. When you really disappeared from the schedule, something sank in me.

Work wasn't the same anymore, the walls were emptier, grayer, the people seemed more quiet, the hours became longer. I often looked at your empty place when we ate breakfast together. The empty hall, the warehouse where we often worked together.

We didn't have a chance to say goodbye - did we? So many times I thought I would make time, that I would write, call. Days, months, years passed..and then...I just learned to live without those conversations of ours and turned it into silence.

You were more than a mere colleague at work. You were one of the few around whom I felt understood. No explaining, no pretending and no shame. you knew when to joke and when to just be next to me and stay silent.

I would like to say to you: - thank you. For every day together, for laughing when it was hard, for your presence, for your experience. You taught me many things, it was thanks to you that I was later one of the most experienced employees in the company. I worked there for about 20 years, 10 years with you and 10 years alone. Yes I had colleagues, many, but in fact there was never again such an understanding as with you.

Today I am no longer there, I left, the work became unbearable. It was a real nightmare, I could not take it any longer. Those years we worked together were really golden times.

Our paths have parted, we may never meet again. but if you ever read this letter know that you left something good behind. In all this messed up life, in this too-long job and in these rough mornings, you were a spark of hope and optimism in spite of everything.

Hang in there.

If we ever meet - the first beer is on me. And if not it's still good that you were and will always be in my memory.

Your former colleague and still - with respect - a friend.