Wednesday 13 May 2009 is round the corner; in the afternoon of that day the adventurous Lions of the Pyrenees will be meeting again around the barracks of El Poblado (El Grado) greeting each other.After twelve months since their last shared experience in the wilds of the Pyrenees, they will be looking forward to these days together.
As always it will be a great joy to hear from each other; news about family, work, etc. Sometimes it will be the joy of a new baby, other times maybe the death of a close relative; these joys and sorrows will be shared together and will give more strength to the unity of the” Lions of the Pyrenees”.
We know that life brings joys and sorrows, but with God’s help we convert everything into something positive and accept the difficult things as coming from Him. This year it has been rather difficult for many. Personal situations, the current financial crisis has made many loose their jobs or be uncertain as regards the future. We understand and suffer this, but we have to keep the calmness and optimism which is proper of a Christian who tries to see the hand of hand in everything that happens to us.
We are about to embark into another Expedition. As always I encourage you all to be prepare, but do not do excessive training, some have injured themselves by trying to do too much. Moderation men; just take it easy. I appreciate that some of you are like bulls who have been in a cage and want to run out quickly, but keep calm Lions, you can do it.
At the same time, do use the opportunities of these Holy Week and Easter period to do more exercise with your families and friends. Remember that the families are the motivation for all of us; we try to go back home after the Expedition with the intention to help more and to bring the smile to the faces of our families and those around us.As always we will miss some of the Lions, that for a variety of reasons (family duties, conflicting professional commitments, injury, etc) can not make it this year. Do not worry, we understand, you will be present with us, remember: “Once a Lions, always a Lion”. We will remember you in our different events and as we crown a mountain, a ravine, a canyon we will be remembering you so that next year you will be there with us.
I finish these lines thanking the families, and especially the wives of the Lions for their support in this now traditional venture.
Ave Caesar, murituri te salutam!,
Sir Antonio Irastorza
