So what really counts in life? The magical question – is it success, is it money, wealth, respect, religion, good deeds, family, friends, that one special person that makes everything beautiful, children, what is the true ultimate goal that makes our life wonderful?

This perspective changes for me every 10 years or so, priorities change, goals are achieved and new ones are set. Wishes change, surroundings change, list of priorities is shuffled constantly. Things are lost and gained, people come and go, but what is that really important thing that matters?

For me my guideline for the last 8-10 years is to have stories to tell. I want to know that what I do in life, makes a good story that I would be glad to tell at my deathbed to whoever would be willing to listen. When I was younger it was all about making money, as that was the only way I knew how to value myself, but the better I did at that time, the more pointless it seemed. I was never motivated by the wishes for material things, I never wanted the most expensive cars, the biggest houses, the most envy. What I wanted was to explore, experience, achieve, prove to myself that I can, that is my main driver for most of the things I do in my life. To do these things with a smile on my face, at least for most of the time.

But today I can say, that there are really few things that are really crucial to me, one is finding (and being with) that special someone that makes your life more, with whom you share the moments of (her life) and your life and gives you that feeling that nothing else matters when you are together and to start a family. The second one is having people in life that make you feel as if you always knew each other, where no word is forbidden and always make you laugh when you meet. In my life I meet many people and being a people person I establish relationships quickly, people trust me fast and I tend to trust them as well. But as everyone can say, true friends that you can always rely on are few, most of us can count them with the fingers on one hand, even the sloppy carpenters that might have lost a finger or two, and then there are people, who are not a part of your life on a daily basis, some of them you see maybe once per year or once every few years, but when you meet, you feel as if you last saw each other just yesterday.

I was lucky enough that in my high-school years our class was one of the most connected classes that ever existed. Of course we had groups and some people tend to like other people more, but overall we have always stuck it out together and there was this bond between us. Even today, whomever I meet from our class, we always stop to talk, laugh, remember and talk about personal things. When I talk to others, I often get surprised responses, as to how is it that we still meet every year and in such high attendance and confirmations that such a connection is very rate with ex-schoolmates. Our class meets every year in the same location, an old-school grill place that seems stuck in the 1980´s in Ljubljana, which surprisingly enough has a FB page! (Kersic) Whoever can, comes, and the evening is always nice, exchanged with stories and laughs. We share personal stuff and we remember the good old days. Often we tend to go out afterwards and party it out, even though we started noticing that we do get a bit calmer every year. But what I wanted to say – people like that matter, they make life many smiles richer. That is also the reason why I rarely miss out on the opportunity to meet my former classmates, they are all wonderful people and it is so interesting to see how each and every one of us follows his or her own path in life, but still on that one evening per year, we share as if we were still sitting in that classroom or on the school courtyard during recess. No matter how you feel, how fast-paced life is, what you do in your professional or private life, stopping for that one evening always makes everything feel like we are back there again just having a good time. That is one of the things I find priceless, I know that in 10 years this tradition will still exist. Whoever will be able to, will come, and there you have it, that is what matters to me the most. Relationships with these special people, that make life what it is, that make it nicer.

Thank you 4.D, 1997/2001, you are a big part of my life story, were and will be.