My best friend

^{Photo by Sixteen Miles Out}

Usually on Tuesdays I write my #ttt, but today is different, today I am writing this, perhaps to feel a little less sad, a little calmer.

Have you ever wished you had an older sister? But you are the oldest of your siblings, so there is no way you have an older sister. When I was little, for years, I wished I had an older sister to play with and talk to. And although dad had other children out of wedlock, and I already had an older sister, at that time I didn't know it, I found out later. The truth is that yes, when I was a child I wanted to have an older sister, and I believe that God saw that, and sent me an older sister, and she was Eva, who was my older sister, but not by blood, but by life.

Eva came home to help mom with the housework. She was 5 years older than me, so she would have been 13 and I was 8. At that time she was a humble girl, who had emancipated herself from her family, as she lived separately with a man, as a formal couple. If we look back, it is terrible that a 13-year-old girl already lives with a 20-year-old man, but in the humble social strata of many countries, this is common. The truth is that she needed a job and mom needed someone to help her with the housework, and that's how we met.

She was very hard-working, very willing to learn, and was a wonderful help, to the point that she was in the family for decades, and she was no longer a domestic assistant, she was part of our family. She was one of the purest, honest and loyal people I have ever met, she was a very thorough person, and with an immense capacity to understand and help others.

Eva taught me many things about life, because there are issues that you cannot discuss with your mother and father, such as what music you like the most, what is your first platonic love, your first boyfriend, or the simple or complex things that you live as a teenager. She listened to me, she had an infinite capacity to listen to others, and she also advised me very well. She was also very funny, even when she was busy with housework, there was always time to joke with us and it was common for everyone, my brothers, my cousins and I, to help her with her work while we talked or joked.

However, time or life, or perhaps both, makes people take different paths, and one day she left the city where we lived, because she separated from the man who was her partner. She went elsewhere, along with her daughter; however, we always kept in touch with her, both my family and I. There was a time when we lost her, and after a few years, we found out that her daughter had recently died, that was in 2018, and there we resumed contact which we maintained until today. For her, the death of her daughter was a devastating event, since she was her only child and her reason for living.

Last Saturday I spoke with her on the phone (I live very far from where she lived), I noticed that she was normal, she was not sick, she did not even have the flu, she had nothing that would be an indication that today, January 16, 2024, she would die. To be honest, I have felt sad since the year 2024 began, and it has been difficult for me to fall asleep, but I did not attribute it to the proximity of death, I thought it was stress. And today, sadly, I received the news that she died. Her heart stopped beating, broke and she died. It is news that I am still coming to terms with, and really, I still do not fully understand the situation, it is something unexpected, because she was still a person who could have a quiet and productive life.

I want to think that she went on a trip, and yes, that may be so, that she went on a trip to reunite with her daughter, that perhaps now she will be happier. I only hope that God can grant her that wish, because she always told me that, that when she died she hoped to be able to reunite with her daughter on that other plane. Amen, so be it. Rest in peace dear friend.

Here I end my post, a sad and unexpected post, which I did not think I would have to write. Remember something, life is short, we have to live it and we have to tell our loved ones how much we love them and share with them as much as we can. Life is a little while. Hugs!