On a decent snowy afternoon, I find my colleague’s keyboard tapping soothing. I love the sounds of many things. Like the keyboard, the shoes, the snapping of fingers, the rustled falling of autumn leaves, the bickering and casual frolic of birds, the laughing of people I hold close in the chest of my hearts. Today the 16th of December marks the last working day (officially) of my colleague friend Lara Sophie-Braun (I love her full name!). I am still not ready to not see her anymore up in our mezzanine, her archive workstation, day in and out. I will probably miss her every minute I will come into the Library. It’s like not having this constant presence of a really wonderful friend around you, when you are also working somewhere, somewhere near or far from them. It will take some time or maybe I will never get used to the feeling of not having Lara going up and down the stairs, coming in the way in our kitchen, pulling each other’s legs, getting to sit close to her and look at her gorgeous eyes.
As this year is going to vanish into the white of the snows, Lara is going to start on a new, amazing and wishful journey on her homeland, among people who have brought sunshine and joy, stars and wine into her life. I hope that my friend, the friend with whom I started my placement together, the friend with whom I have had myriad conversations, remains happy and finds more happiness, gets to experience ice skating a lot, gets to see all the places she wants to look at again, my ever reliable friend Lara Sophie-Braun. Thank you for coming in my life. Thank you my Library for having brought us together, inside each other’s complicated yet charming lives.
