Endless Love

Last Saturday I learned about a real-life story that seemed fictional. Two sisters, inseparable according to their relatives–Lucila lived in Bogotá and Faustina lived in Ft Lauderdale–both said goodbye to this world under inexplicable circumstances within a few hours of each other.

The younger sister, Lucila, had suffered a cerebral aneurysm on Thursday, January 11 and she remained in an induced coma. The older sister, Faustina, flew from the U.S. to Colombia on Wednesday, January 17th, leaving her daughter and three grand-kids in Florida.

On Thursday, January 18th, the doctors diagnosed Lucila as brain dead and told the family there was nothing else they could do. While still at the hospital, Faustina called her daughter to give her the sad news. The daughter was consoling her mother when suddenly she went silent.

Next, the daughter heard muffled noises and desperate yelling through the phone until the call ended abruptly. A few minutes later, she received the worst news of her life: her mother had died in a split second. Lucila, who was supposed to be removed from life support, died of natural causes the next day.

On Saturday morning, when I called my cousin’s wife to give her my condolences on the death of her aunts, she said her family was not surprised. According to them, it seemed like Faustina had arrived to help Lucila died. “It is like she told her: Come on sis, let’s go together! In other words, she died of love.“

This story moved me to my core for two reasons. First, it is the terror of receiving bad news about my mother’s health while I am away. Living far away from my loved ones is a life decision that gets tougher as the years go by.

And secondly, brotherly love. My mother is the second of seven siblings and since she was in her teens always worked to help my grandmother with the household expenses making sure the younger kids could go to school. I have seen her, throughout my life, ready to drop anything if any of her brothers or sisters needed her, never questioning their reasons.

The love between siblings is the kind that fills the void left by the parents, whether it is caused by divorce, abandonment, or simple lack of attention. Very often, especially in big families, the older kids assume the authority roles that the little ones respect or rebel against. That’s where the importance of family ties come into play. When the parents are gone, the siblings remain.

Although I am an only child, I used to brag about having a 15-year-old brother and a 17-year-old sister, who were really my mother’s youngest siblings. One day, my preschool teacher asked my mom how could she have two teenage children because she looked so young. I am not a little girl anymore, but they are still my brother and sister.

The endless love between the sisters Faustina and Lucila contradicts the aberrant story of Cain and Abel. And even though the memory of their loss will sadden their families forever, knowing that they were together in their last hours may give them some comfort. Rest in peace.

Thank you for reading and sharing.

Xiomara Spadafora.

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