Dear Mariangela, I was about fifteen when we first met. You were eight years older than me, and with your vitality and optimism, you quickly became someone I could rely on.
After I finished my degree in literature, you introduced me to Nazareth, your school. That's where I had my first experience teaching, and I felt you there—a steady support and guide.
In '65 I married. To come to our wedding, you and Paolo made a long journey while you were pregnant with Giovanni. In that moment, I felt the warmth of your friendship so deeply—the way you knew how to show it in concrete gestures. Chicca was so small, and I could feel your joy, but also your worry and your tender anxiety about this new life on the way.
Then Giovanni and I moved to Piedmont. Our time together in Cogne, in Valle d'Aosta, gave us beautiful moments that nourished our friendship. The love of mountains that I'd learned from you—we had already discovered it together in the Dolomites, where we'd sometimes met, and I had stayed with you and Paolo.
As each of us went our own way in different places with different people, you stayed close to us through Ombre e Luci, which took so much of your energy, and through our phone calls.
Though I am very different from you in temperament and upbringing, I have always felt the steady strength of your love for life, your humanity, your care for others.
Monica Boyer, 2014
