Querido Avô,

Assim como quem não quer a coisa, já faz um ano que, como dizias, "foste para Paris". Sinto muito a tua falta, muito mesmo. Aliás todos sentimos, mas eu só posso falar por mim. Um homem que tinha tanto de sábio como de engraçado e acredita que me lembro de ti sempre com um sorriso na cara, pois tu também me recebias assim. E continuas a receber. Onde quer que estejas. Onde eu sei que estás, que é no meu coração. A saudade está cá, mas pode ser que nos voltemos a ver.

Arnold

“Someone told me about this. I hope I’m not too late here, I’m traveling, but I wanted to chime in.

I always say don’t be afraid of failure, because how far can you really fall? You found out - to the ground. It’s right there. Now you know it isn’t anything that should scare you.

You should be proud that you weren’t afraid - not embarrassed that you failed. You could have made excuses not to walk into the door, but you didn’t. You knew it would be hard, and it would be uncomfortable, and it might be awkward - and you did it anyway. That’s courage.

I’m proud of you.

The last guy I rooted for broke a world record in the deadlift. You have more in common with him than you think.

First, he started out lifting just the bar, too (when you look at him, he may have been 3 months old at that point). Second, imagine his courage. He walked up to that bar in front of a big audience and television cameras, knowing that not only had he never lifted that much before - NO ONE on earth had - and it was highly likely he would completely fail. You may not think about it this way, but you showed that courage, on a smaller level.

Finally, I’m rooting for you, too. You took the first step and you fell, but at least you fell in the right direction, so get back up and take the next step. Keep moving forward.”

Foda-se