Time and distance. These two factors, when combined in the same operation, act exponentially, and are what turn reunions between old friends into events full of emotion.
A few days ago I lived one of these reunions with two old colleagues. Although I knew both of them separately during my childhood, it was a meeting of the three of us in the spring of 2016 that made us form our particular group. At that time I was just a few days away from facing one of the biggest challenges of my life: the university entrance exam exam. Moreover, at that time, the political parties were preparing for another great challenge: the general elections that would shape the 12th legislature. Nothing and no one could have warned us what life was going to bring us, and I am not referring to politics but to the future staff of each of the three of us. This is precisely what we talked about during that reunion. And there is something that occupies the meetings between old friends with even greater force than the emotion of the reunion: the space for reflection that they offer us.
Beer and soft drink in hand, we remembered the best times lived together and separately, as those unforgettable experiences during my university years, especially the Erasmus I spent in Rome, full of growth staff, international friendships, impossible love affairs and messes typical of a newly independent young man. In fact, I remembered the day I went to the Spanish Embassy in Italy to cast my vote in those general elections.
It was an express legislature, typical of the political times we were living in. In fact, four months later we were called again to the polls. At that time I was already back in Madrid, with that uneasiness that some call "post Erasmus depression", and with more uncertainties than certainties. Even then, my friends and I had no idea what we were about to suffer; I am referring to a certain virus that paralyzed the world.
Last summer, almost four years later, we voted again. And the truth is that little has changed in terms of the color of the government and the unstable political landscape. The same cannot be said for staff . Both my colleagues and I are living our first professional experiences. We have gone through the illusion due to university graduation and the first day at work, as well as the disappointment and weariness due to certain situations once we have settled in our position, the illusion before new selection processes, etc. We also experience the pain of losing loved ones, the joy of new trips, the uncertainty of our first adult decisions (meaning that we have become capable of assuming the consequences of our choices).
So, between beer and tapa, tapa and beer, we gave a complete review of a period of time, eight years, the space occupied by two legislatures in the times of bipartisanship. A period full of learning and experiences in this changing time that is the first youth. Not in vain, two (or three) legislatures are a lot from the paradise of youth.
