Aura,
My son and I are going to miss you so much. One of the happiest times in Arón’s first year was when I made him sit through his first dinner party at your place. He had just learned to walk and as soon as he walked in all he wanted to do was chase you around, it was almost as if he had forgotten about me, while Frank and I chatted in the kitchen. When it came time to serve dinner, he was tired and restless and wouldn’t stay still on my lap, as I tried to balance forks and glasses of wine and his whining. You reached out and wrinkled your nose -- feeling sorry for me, I guess – grabbed Arón and laid him face up on your belly, while you continued to chat and eat, displaying a lot more dexterity and joie de vivre than me. Arón must have felt it, because in less than a minute, he was asleep face up on your belly, as joyful as you were. It was an instant parent lesson for me, on how we pass what we are feeling, our state of heart, to our loved ones. I always envisioned with glee how you Arón would grow closer as he grew older, how you would be able to teach him things about his native culture that I was ignorant about. And now just thinking about it now makes me ache.
You reached out for me the same way when I was going through my own crisis, brought your expertise and warmth to the classroom I had to abandon, at the drop of a word. There are few who could have done it so brilliantly and efficiently, with an easy knowledge of the tradition, and relentless reading of the texts, that I think made me feel a little lightweight to the students when I returned. I don’t think that I ever thanked you properly for that, for the immensity of the task that you accomplished as if it were nothing.
When I heard what had happened, I kept on saying that it had to be a cruel joke. I had just finished reading your husband’s new book and was so overcome by the senseless meditated violence of the history in that narrative, the history of my son’s people, that I had almost forgotten that tragedy sometimes strikes in other senseless ways. I was angry at such a great loss, and my heart was on the floor for your husband, whose life you revolutionized with your affection, your intelligence, and your love. He became something greater, finally letting some of that persistent, monkish energy that he had always devoted to his work spill over into his personal life and flower, and he will remain that way from now on because of you.
Arón te manda diez mil besitos, bella.
Ernesto, Andrew y Arón