"Oh, where is it already?" remarks Jani with a slightly thoughtful expression on his face, as he watches the conversation between me, Marjetka and Sabina.
"Yes, it's been 30 years since I first came to your farm with my sister and her family," he explains nostalgically. "When we got into conversations that were much more than just pleasantries, I knew and felt that I would be back. And I have been coming back for thirty years."
"At first as a guest of a pensioner," says Marjetka, the current manager of the tourist farm. But then the bonds became so strong and the friendship so strong that Jani offered to help us work on the farm.
"Of course, we would have been happy to receive such a loving offer, because there was always more than enough work to do on the farm," Marjetka says with a smile, while Jani explains that it has never been difficult for him to help someone in need. So, in these thirty years, the farm has seen many events, much work, and Jani has been there for almost every major task.
"Despite his job and his commitments, which included taking care of my parents, he always found the time and the will to help," says Sabina, with a look of gratitude and kindness.
"I always like to come," explains Jani with his characteristic wide smile. "I'm especially happy when we all sit down together at the table in the evening after a hard day's work, have a spritzer or two and a chat.
"Our Jonchi," as Sabina sometimes affectionately and familiarly calls him, "is a real humourist who is always ready to tell a joke in his own way." Of course, we have a good laugh at this, and many times these evenings have stretched long into the night. We have also enlivened them with joyful singing and reminiscing about the past.
"Oh yes," adds Jani. "These are the unforgettable, beautiful moments that I cling to when life is not so rosy."
Marjetka says that she would like to highlight an event from this spring: 'Because we urgently needed help with the firewood harvest, we called on Jani at the last minute, not knowing that he had already made an appointment for the annual hike.
But his response surprised us all: "There will be a march next year, but the firewood has to be cleared now and of course I'll come." So that is his generosity and his loyalty to this family. But all the Ferenc family also hold Jani in high esteem and there is not an event in the family to which he is not invited.
"Of course, he's already a member of our family," say sisters Marjetka and Sabina, almost in unison. "Unfortunately, the last such event was saying goodbye to his father, with whom Jani also got on very well, and whose father valued him as his own son. His parents took him in as their own," explains Sabina. "Even in those difficult moments, Jani was always there. He was a great support and help to our mother and to all of us, and we will never forget that."
With gratitude in our eyes and touching glances towards Jani, we end the conversation.
I am lucky to be able to write stories like this, because no words spoken would be enough to thank a man with such noble qualities. It can make us think about what it means to be human in the true sense of the word, and what it means to belong to someone so much that you give up your chores, postpone the march for a year and instead come to the aid of people who need you. I have a feeling that this is not the last story about you, Jani, and that there will be more soon.
Jožica Kous, 22. 7. 2025
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