after a 13-year relationship, my partner leonardo and i are breaking up. i
am at present going through the horrendous process of helping the man i
still love but with whom i can't live anymore put things in boxes and move
his stuff to la plata, his native town.
how do you say goodbye to a 56-year-old man that has given you the best
years of his life and that knows you better than you know yourself? you
simply don't say good-bye.
in another life, i'll be happy and content with what i have. in this life,
i'll just have to be my own unpredictable self.
leonardo was never a joni fan, but he would never leave the room or ask me
to turn down the music when i was listening to mitchell. after i came back
from a jonifest, he would listen to all of our sets and he would tell me
when i was good and when i was shrillingly out of tune. we shared a passion
for LA CALLAS: he would rewind and play for me that infinitesimal moment
when callas was more than human. if it hadn't been for leonardo, i would
never have heard those little moments of glory.
he knew when i wanted my slippers, when i wanted my sleeping pills, when i
wanted my quiet.
leonardo made a man out of me.
the months, perhaps the years to come will be tinged with leonardo's
absence.
somebody's absence can be the most haunting of presences.
wallyK
