Shadows Behind the Medals

Final Reflections – 2025

Though time has moved on and much has changed since those early days of loss, support, and transformation, some threads remain tightly woven through the years. As of 2025, I still send care packages to Josephine—small tokens of consistency and love. I know that, even now, her life within the club is far from easy. The cost of commitment can sometimes mean skipping meals just to afford club fees. That reality weighs heavily on me.

Despite the distance that has formed between us over time, I carry a quiet responsibility, a promise made not in words but in moments shared during the hardest of times. The house fire in Bray, the grief, the displacement—those chapters wrote themselves into the fabric of our lives, shaping everything that followed.

The club, for all it gave Josephine, also marked the slow unraveling of our friendship. Around 2016 or 2017, we drifted apart. The once unshakable bond loosened as new priorities and paths took over. It was never one dramatic moment—just a slow fade. But I still care. I still notice.

This story—our story—is not just about the fire or the club or the end of friendships. It’s about what we gave each other when everything else was burning down, what we held onto when we were being asked to let go.

So even now, in 2025, I honour that. With every care package, every quiet memory, every word written here, I remind myself that love, loyalty, and friendship don’t always end when chapters close. Sometimes, they just change form.

End of current draft. Title confirmed: Shadows Behind the Medals

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