“Life is only one”… until old age arrives and there is nothing left.
Don Alfredo was the soul of every gathering.
Always with a joke, always with a beer in hand.
Every time someone talked to him about saving, he would laugh and respond:
—“Save? Life is only one! We must enjoy it.”
And he enjoyed: impromptu trips, parties every weekend, meals at restaurants, expensive gifts to impress.
His family saw him as a cheerful man, although sometimes Doña Carmen, his wife, would say worriedly:
—“Alfredo, think about tomorrow, about the kids… what are we going to do when the job is gone?”
He would silence her with a smile:
—“Tomorrow we'll see, dear. Today we have life.”
Years passed, and that “tomorrow” arrived.
Old age caught up with him without savings, without insurance, with nothing set aside.
Illness knocked on his door, and the same joy he once boasted of turned into silence in a borrowed bed.
His children, now adults, took turns helping with medicines and rent. Some did it out of love, others with resentment.
One of them murmured:
—“My father taught us to enjoy… but he also passed on the fear of having nothing.”
LEARNING
Living in the present is important, but forgetting the future is a debt that someone else will end up paying.
Enjoying is not wrong… what is irresponsible is turning joy into an excuse not to prepare.
The true balance is not in living in fear or in wasting without thinking, but in enjoying while also building security.
Because yes, “life is only one”… but it can feel long when you have no way to sustain it.
FINAL REFLECTION
A father can teach with his laughter…
but he also leaves lessons with his silences when money is no longer enough.