Letter to the Editor: Hello From Italy

Edoardo at his graduation from MHS in 2013.

June 20, 2018

Five years have passed since I said my last goodbye to your beautiful community and flew away from Detroit International Airport with tear-filled eyes. Since that painful parting there has been no day in which I haven’t found myself contemplating the beautiful moments I had enjoyed on the other side of the ocean and missing the friends I had had the opportunity to share them with.

I had arrived in Manchester as a kid full of hope and expectations, ready to live my American dream and immerse myself in a reality I had dreamt of watching American movies in my childhood. However, the reality turned out to be better than any fiction. Throughout my stay everything was so purely beautiful that, despite the years that have passed, the memories I made are so vibrantly vivid that I could still guide you through Manchester’s roads or describe you in the most accurate detail the pictures that adorn Manchester High School’s wrestling room. When I had chosen to move to the States my primary concern was to improve my English, but the experience of living among you was so personally enriching that speaking another language became just a side-note to my time in Michigan.

This letter is therefore a message of gratitude to the Manchester community and the loudest way I can possibly think of to say thank you, now that memories may begin to fade. Take this letter as if I were there to personally hug each one of you, regardless of whether we ever met. Despite Thanksgiving being months away, I am grateful for the welcoming attitude professors showed me, teaching me principles rather than merely imparting knowledge. I am thankful for the values coaches instilled in me through sports, life lessons that have stayed with me long after I stopped practicing sports and that still guide me through my daily challenges. I am grateful for the warm hospitality and trust parents across the community showed me, making me feel — from the first day — as if I were everybody’s cousin who just happened to be in town to reconnect with his relatives. Finally, I am beyond thankful for the friends I made and for the friendships that did not perish despite the ocean that keeps us apart, know that despite the distance I keep on watching you and rejoicing for you successes, it being either a marriage, a graduation or a new job.

Five years ago I left you with the message that I would have come back, today I renew that promise. In the meantime, accept this message as undisputed proof of my affection and be proud of your community, the size of its heart is much bigger than the sum of each one’s of you individual contribution.

Love,
Edoardo Tricerri
Rome, Italy

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.