ARRIVEDERCI PAOLO — Jon B. Carroll

ARRIVEDERCI PAOLO — Jon B. Carroll

Meaning “farewell’ in English. Paolo was my best friend as a child, and that single word was the last thing I said to him. Early the next morning, my mother and I were driven to a plane, having just learned the night before of my grandfather’s death. We left the Alps on a military flight bound for Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama — a departure from which I would never return. Except for the past five years, my adult life has been sp…