R.I.P. my loved ones

I never really had people close to me die. When I moved to New York, it was the worst of times (my first six months) when the beginning of a line of people started to leave my life. One after another, endearing the heartbreak of not being able to fly home for their funeral. I lost 2 of my best friends, my little cousin and my grandmother all within the last year. This is my tribute to them.

Alex Milam 1990-2009

   Me and Alex knew each other from 'Caliente', a salsa youth group in Houston. I had the most in common with him than with any other person in that 20 person group. He was such a great guy and such an honest person. We lost touch when I moved to the north but I was so upset to find out two months after his funeral that he passed way. I wish I could have talked to you one last time, Alex. I know you're at peace now. 

Isareal Villareal (far right) 1989-2009

Me, Luis & Isareal (and Alex Milam) were all best friends from Caliente. They were my brothers. Isareal always had me laughing and was always so supportive. He left behind a little girl.

          Life is crazy, you know? Both him and Alex died within 2 months of each other. The night I found out Isareal died, I just got out of an evening mass in Manhattan (I had just revolutionalized that I was now an atheist) when my friend, Virginia, called crying and crying. She said he died in a house fire and that it was all over the news in Houston. I hope his daughter knows what a funny, kind and sincere man her daddy was.

Breanna Perez 1998-2011

My little cousin :( She was 15. She took her own life. Details are irrelevant. No one will ever know what thoughts were running through your head, but I have to say that I'm glad those thoughts are gone and that your suffering is gone, Bre. We'll miss you forever. We love you. 

Me & my grandma. 

Out of all the people that passed away in my life, my grandmother's death is the most "natural" way. She lived a long healthy 74 years. And yet I cried the most for her. She loved me like her own. She was my biggest fan. She always loved to hear me play the piano. 

       I'm gonna miss you, grandma. You really were my mom in a lot of way. Parkinson's Disease is incurable and barely treatable. Parkinson's also affects young people. Donate money to find a cure or at least a sufficient treatment for Parkinson's and Alzeimer's Disease. 

Esperanza Thompson 1937-2011

This has been most therapeutic.