It's been a year since you're gone. It's been a year since you left, but... my friend, I feel that your essence still lingers in me, I feel that you are still here. Your joy, your positivity, your ability to empathize, your desire, your struggle, that overwhelming and exhausting activity. In short, that good vibe that you awakened in everyone around you, even among those who envied you.
A year has passed and I still miss those untimely calls on the phone and your unmistakable voice on the other end of the line. I remember the conversations we had for hours and hours, when the clock stopped, and I navigate through those memories to feel that you are still here. And believe me, my friend Cándido, that's how I feel.
To a large extent, I feel that I have grown by your hand, with your teachings, with your advice and with your intelligent words.
I have to admit that you left a brutal mark, impossible to erase no matter how hard some try, and that's where my desire to continue comes from. I honestly believe that if I have inherited anything from you, it has been your passion for Arrecife and your projects for the city that rest, for the moment, in my head. I guarantee that I feel like the richest man in the world for that treasure that you shared with me and to which I cling and maintain.
During this time, the memories that come to mind the most are those hours of work in the Mayor's Office, in the last hours of the day, when the workers had already left and only those of us who were part of your team remained. I remember our quick meals in Ginory, your delicious fried fish and the calls from the "Super" for you to go home to eat. What a great woman! I remember as if it were now when you took fifty euros out of your wallet to give to a lady who had nothing to eat that day and how you called Social Services to take care of her urgently, I also remember the phrase of that neighbor from Tinasoria who said with affection that she had fallen in love with you for everything you helped her with, or the tears of Mari on the day of your farewell. Those moments are still with me.
I confess that I very often watch the interview that Meyer Trujillo did with you on Canary Television during the 2011 election campaign. You can breathe your special optimism, your desire to change this city, to give back to the people of Arrecife all the self-esteem that we were losing. I miss someone in the current island politics who leads the development of the island, of the municipality, someone who inspires. But I'm naive, because only you knew how to do that. Sadly, what we have today are bad copies.
Although as a sign of your goodness you knew how to leave it behind, I find it difficult to forget the damage they did to you, the damage that person did to you whom you had helped and supported so much. As difficult as it is to forget the betrayals of those who in the last days in the Mayor's Office did not answer your phone. Cowards. I know that you also forgave them, so one lesson I take away: I can and must do it too.
I think about our farewell, on that fateful night of January 15 and that call from Carla in the early morning of the 16th..., you were already gone... I have to thank her for that gesture because, thanks to her, I was able to say goodbye to you, my friend. Oh, Cándido! ... Thank you for everything you have given me. I felt that on this sad anniversary I should tell you what I continue to feel and how much I miss you. You were and are very great, Cándido.
A big hug, my friend!
Joel Delgado, friend.
