Time does not come back and we can regret it (Week 289).

The best moments of my life are those that don't involve money, but rather experiences of simple but important things in life, that's where the greatness lies.

I am one of those people who have learned that when you feel something for someone you have to show it, when you want to share a moment you have to do it, because time does not come back and you can regret it for the rest of your life. But it is only by having regretted things that I have learned not to make that mistake again and to be able to value the moments of those simple things in life.

The best experiences have not been given to me by money but by emotions, by the details of everyday life. Maybe it sounds very spiritual, which is not the same as religious, spiritual that comes from things of the soul, and I think it can be so.

I lost my maternal grandfather when I was 7 years old, whom I resemble in many ways. My parents separated soon after, and my father abandoned my brother and me. He was a very bad person, it was better that way to save his life. Then my godfather, my grandmother's sister's husband, was a great figure for me.

I used to go to his house very often, I enjoyed his vegetable garden, the delicious cakes he made and watching him work in the house, he was already a retired man. He loved football, keeping the garden and very hot coffee, but very hot, so hot that I thought it hurt his throat.

Many times he behaved like a child or seemed irresponsible and that's why my mother didn't let me spend much time with him. He was completely deaf and still wanted to drive me in the car and take me to the square to play, but they wouldn't let me go with him for fear that I would crash. Many things I couldn't share with him and I loved him very much.

But one of the things he liked was to drink mate, a typical Argentinean drink or infusion, and I hated that drink at that time, I didn't like it at all or I thought I didn't like it and I never made the effort to try and see if I could share those things with my godfather.

He got cancer and because it was not discovered in time, it was very aggressive and caused him a lot of pain. He was suffering so much that I couldn't see him like that. I asked heaven to take him away, so that he would not suffer any more, and so it happened, but I regretted with all my heart not living with him who was so good to me, simple things in life, moments of chatting over mate, as great friends, close people, family do. It seems silly, but I regretted it a lot, because I know that for him it was very important.

I thought I had all the time in the world to enjoy with my godfather and I let opportunities pass me by and he was one of the few people who showed me the most affection in life, he made me laugh, he made me see life as I should see it, as a child and not as an adult. And I regretted... and not only not having mate with him but not telling him when I loved him, even though I know he knew it.

So when he left, I was left with only my maternal grandmother as the oldest person in the family and I promised myself that it would never happen again. I learned to drink mate on the sly, my brother helped me learn how to prepare it, how to drink it, its temperature and all the art that goes into making a good Argentine mate.

Shortly before my grandmother got brain cancer, I told her that I would prepare the mate and she looked at me surprised. I started drinking it and she looked at me. I was able to enjoy such a beautiful tradition with her for the last six months of her life. And now it is part of my life, not a day goes by that I don't drink mate, maybe because it is a symbol of reunion and family for me.

I will never forget those experiences, they are simple, but they are important. That precise moment when I drank mate with my grandmother for the first time, would be one of those moments that I would make slow so that they would last much longer. A unique moment.

The little things in life, the ones that create special, unique, simple but important moments, are the most worthwhile. Thank you @galenkp for these weekend themes that always invite us to reflect and relive experiences.