By: Gabriela Yareliz
As we mourn the loss of Carlos Marin, I had Il Divo playing in the background just dissolving me to tears. These artists, even after they are gone, they stay with us. Sometimes, it’s eery, and sometimes, it’s comforting. We can watch a movie, open a book, or hear a song, and we can see them, hear them, experience them. It’s like we resurrect them.
I was telling my fiancé that this makes me feel like we need more videos of the people we love so we can experience them even when they are gone.
It really makes one think about what one leaves behind.
I wonder if anyone will read this when I am gone and wonder if I was an interesting person, a positive person, a funny person– I hope they do think I am funny. For some reason, that’s important to me. I like making people smile. Maybe, I will be misjudged. Wouldn’t be the first time. Some think I’m too feisty, too serious, too blunt.
I wonder if they will hear my voice or if they will feel the spaces in between lines that held my sorrows and my fears. The ones that held my joys and my anticipation. Maybe they will see my fractures and also feel the spots where the bone healed thicker. I hope they can hear my snark and maybe see my eyebrow raise or my occasional eyeroll. I hope that in my writing they see what Robert Frost always tried to impart, everything is ok and everything is not ok. I hope they feel my sincerity because by God, I write most sincerely. And more than anything, I hope they feel my hope.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 