I have been thinking about this letter for a while now, just pushing it over until the time was right. Today I say hello to a promising future and goodbye to a loving relationship. Everyone has asked me how I feel about my sister MJ and my brother OB moving to Canada, and I have been stoic in saying how happy I am for them, and I truthfully am, so let me tell you a story of unconditional love, resilience, and acceptance.
It was August 23rd, 1982, and I was only 8 months old when she was born, blood of my blood, just someone I didn’t know was about to become the angel in so many lives, including my children’s and my own. We were born 8 months apart, from different mothers, but as long as I can remember, we were raised at the same time with the same dreams, the same birthday parties, and the same ugly dresses; our moms, though hurt on the inside, pulled themselves together to bring us together from birth. We celebrated holidays, vacations, and birthdays as one; we wore the same ugly dresses and hairstyles; we ate the same food; and we shared the same silent grievances; we just didn’t know it then.
Time went by and life drew us apart, but one day it brought us together again, and a sisterhood revived, as if no separation was ever good enough to keep us apart. Her name is MJ, Maria Jose. She was born a saint and my angel.
One day she got married to one of my best friends, OB, and karma made it’s way. After life’s turnabouts, we ended up living in the same building: me, 38, divorced with two kids, and she, 37. If life had told me this, I wouldn’t have believed it, yet it was happening; it was already 2020, and the pandemic was already happening to all of us.
What happened in these 38 years of our lives would be too long to explain, but what I want to share is what 3.5 years can do to a lifetime of memories and growth; when you can finally recognize that life has sent you an array of love and understanding through the souls in front of you, that is the moment you learn to live.
I won’t go into the details of what got us here, but I just want to share this story for it to be a legacy of love—just love, no strings attached, just flowing love.
When I moved into the same building my sister lived in, with my marriage in pieces and two little creatures (yes, they are still creatures), MJ’s and OB’s eyes were there to meet ours—no questions asked, no judgment held, just a supporting system to get me and my children through this tough time. Never had I imagined in our childish adventures that we would end up like this, the “older” sister needing the younger married one, yet here I was with a bag of dreams and two confused souls just a few floors beneath them.
This was May 2020; no one knew how we got here—just them and a handful of close and loved ones—yet MJ & OB opened the sacred doors of a partnership they had just started and didn’t hesitate to let us in with our lost and confused souls. They nourished us, held us, fed us, and, above all, loved us—no judgement, just acceptance and companionship.
Today they are leaving for a new adventure far from us, and although my heart bounces with happiness and joy for them, I can’t deny and acknowledge my sorrow, as well as my joy, happiness, and especially my GRATITUDE, for they were here for us when only a few were, when only a few knew, and when only a few understood.
This letter is not from me alone; it is from my kids, who learned through them what love means, what it looks like, and how it should be spread. I can’t be anything but GRATEFUL for their compassion, love, vision, and inspiration. YOU (MJ&OB) make our lives better every day.
May this goodbye be filled with joy, inspiration, and happiness for both of you. You have filled our lives with authenticity, laughter, serenity, and a bunch of lessons we are still learning.
THANK YOU for building a LEGACY of your own in our lives, for being YOU, for loving US, and for being forever available to our needs and constraints.
I wish you all that life has to offer, now and forever, because you have given all of you to all of us. Safe travels, hermanos, may we see each other soon again. YOUR legacy lies within us and so many more forever!