She had no idea that she would end the year without him… Last August, Lucie Bernardoni lost her grandfather, René, to whom she was very close. Just after Christmas, it was Friday December 30, 2022 that she wanted to pay tribute to him on Instagram. In the caption of a black and white snapshot, the coach of the last season of Star Academy wrote: “2022, you gave me a lot, but you took it from us, my ‘grandpa’ as they say with us, at least August, as I walked on stage. So, I played for you that night and I pray to you everyday. May 2022 keep you forever where you are at peace. Even if I don’t accept. Even if I will never accept. Some will say that’s the way it is, that death is part of life and all that bullshit. So we put your plate on Christmas and we’ll put it on always. And tomorrow, I’ll pour you a drink. Cheers grandpa. Your little one.”
Tuesday, September 6, 2022, it is by sharing a photo where she appears as a child alongside her grandfather that Lucie Bernardoni had shared a heartbreaking letter. “I didn’t have your new address, so I’m writing where it will fly to you. The seasons will pass. The harsh winters, the autumns and their smell of new books, the mild pastel-colored springs and the sultry summers will pass . And I will be in the middle”, she began, before slipping: “I will try once again to make my way through the middle of the others, people in a hurry, souls a little more lost than I’ll do the others. As best I can. Trying to forget that my soul was much less lost near you. You calmed it. You taught me so much. Reading, writing, the bike, politeness, life.”
Lucie Bernardoni: “You left as one dreams, nicely”
After confiding that her grandfather had tried to make her like school, it was with emotion that the young woman had written: “I thought to myself that you had stayed all your life at school, becoming a teacher, as if you wanted to stay small. But you were a big man. A big man with the soul of a child. You painted, you played music, you helped others. And then, one day in August, there was a few weeks, you left as one dreams, prettily. Simply. One afternoon, like when you took a nap under the arbor when I was little.” Upset, Lucie Bernardoni had added: “September is here. And not you. So, we who love you, we are going to live the seasons, like you, you liked to paint them. We’ll tell the rain not to come too often. It’s already gone long enough. Kiss my angels of March, April, October and November. And take my heart of August with you. I give it to you. Be happy. To our seasons. To my grandpa. René.”
Lucie Bernardoni © CEDRIC PERRIN
