The end of a very special year

I began this year full of expectations. We celebrated my dad’s centenary. He was a professor at the University of Navarre for 33 years, writer, journalist, and poet. But above all, he was a wonderful person who experienced an extraordinary story of risky adventures and love during WWII and the Cold War. He fell in love with my mom from the moment they met in Zagreb (Croatia) in 1943, his love grew despite their long forced separation due to the communist persecution during the Cold War (12 years without seeing each other) and when they managed to reunite their family in Munich in 1956, they started a new love story in a foreign country starting from scratch, but happy because they were together.

This year the University has organized several events in his honor and his former pupils, now seasoned journalists, came from all over Spain to Pamplona and Madrid to celebrate with us. They had very endearing memories of him and my mom.

Then we went to Croatia. During the rule of the communists of Yugoslavia, my father had been banned and persecuted. Now the society of Croatian Writers recognized him as one of his own and published three of his books.

I also had written and published in Spain a book about the life of my parents based in their diaries written during the war and the time of their forced separation. And I had put together a collection of my dad’s poems in another book. So five books in one year by or about him.

Working in my book I learned many things I didn’t know about my parents and above all the deepness of their love. It was a very emotional and impressive journey for me.

Now this wonderful year is coming to an end. I’m really grateful to my parents because they gave us a lot of happiness in life and now that they are no longer with us, continue to fill us with joy.

Ending