"Primo hermano" is the equivalent in Spanish of first cousin, the son or daughter of your mother or father's sibling. Cousin Rodrigo is much more than a "primo hermano", he is rather the older brother I never had, he is my "hermano primo", the World's greatest cousin. Thank you Rodrigo for having shared with me the very best moments of my lifetime. Thank you Rodrigo for having been the cause and the source of my moments of greatest joy and happiness.
I owe you the memories, the souvenir of the unforgettable adventures we lived together in our teens and twenties, the winter promenades of Madrid, the summer paseítos by the Mediterranean. You are one of the protagonists of the first half of my lifetime, a protagonist in capital letters, a travel companion that has shaped my brain and my heart, that puts a smile in my face the minute I think of you.
For present and future record for today's very few and tomorrow's very many readers I recall you are the World's greatest cousin, my alter ego, full and gifted with the qualities I shall never have, a source of inspiration that fuels my daily determination to move ahead with the World's most ambitious plan ever designed.
Much more than a friend, than a personal advisor, you are the big brother I have always looked up to when trying to be a better me, when seeking the calm and wisdom of the impenetrable fear that devours our very own sense of false and pretentious security.
For adult choices in life are tough driving us to very different destinations. For life's harsh priorities and the very own survival instinct force us into decisions and paths that oftentimes clash with the dreams of a summer's night when we were young and naive, when we were adventurous and idealist.
But I have not dropped the dream nor given up the idealism so scarce in society, so absent in the daily routines of the wealthy and powerful. For I shall never drop the dream nor give up the idealism we once shared when we were in our teens and twenties. And I want you to continue to be my travel companion, my best advisor, the big brother I never had that I now have in you, the World's greatest cousin.