I would like to start with a simple reflection by mentioning my deep admiration for you and your mother and thanking you for this friendship of so many years.

In preparation of my testimony, I began to think how life sometimes gives us nice surprises and other times knocks us down, tramples on us and hurts us with unexpected events. Hence, the art of living is related to learning to flow along the rhythm of life, more than clinging to what we would like it to be.

We feel like leaves blowing in the wind, without noticing that we are the leaves and the wind, that we can hear the background music, the subtle mumbling that leads our life. For all this, we just have to stop and listen.

With your life, you have taught us, as Dostoyevsky said, "That we are happy but we don’t know it."

We probably don’t tread with pleasure on the first autumn leaves or perhaps we don’t stop to contemplate the first sunlight passing through the windows to warm our skin. Who said that life was perfect? Having a life without problems is not the point: on the contrary, a life where you face problems and surmount them, that’s the game. You have shown us what is most important, living with the wounds left by those problems and pains.

I’m always amazed at your level of awareness about the changes that you have been generating along your "way", always looking for something new, seeking happiness for you and your family, proudly challenging life, which has probably not always been fair.

I am certain that we all know your warrior spirit, optimistic, and always fighting, your generous heart, your sense of humor overflowing into a contagious laughter, an example of life and accomplishment.

Please invite us, your friends, to light our candles in your light to be able to illuminate others and transmit your message of enjoying each moment and celebrating the pleasure of each day.

I am finishing here by quoting the poet who said "Great souls do like clouds do: they collect just to pour." We would like to receive always that inexhaustible rain from your soul, calling us to imitate your inspiring life.

Thank you Gorda,

Artemis Ogueta de Soldati