Simply, Ana

This time I am given the opportunity to talk about one of the most special and feisty people I have ever met in my life and she is none other than my comadre Ana. In this new Inkwell N°4, we are invited to "Write about one of the strongest and most inspiring people you know, and how they have never let circumstances drag them down. What are the character traits of that person?", and in my case this is her, Ana.

I met my comadre Ana when I was 22 years old, when she came to work at my workplace, at that time I had my oldest daughter who was only months old and she had her first son who was also about 3 years old. At the beginning our relationship was simply a working relationship, but as the years went by and we shared our children, we got involved and a beautiful friendship was born, I baptized her son and she later baptized my middle daughter.

As I got to know her, I got to know her world, her life story and more; coming from a very dysfunctional family, she and her siblings were soon left in the care of different relatives, she did not have the presence of her parents or her siblings nearby, because her parents separated the 3 siblings when they left the family. She tells me that her life from then on was not easy, she studied with a lot of effort and began to work from a very young age.

Doing everything, cleaning houses, taking care of children, in flower shops, in whatever she could get, apart from having to do almost all the housework wherever she went. She fell in love, got pregnant and when she had her son, the father disappeared, she had to be a single mother, fighting for herself and her son, with the help of some angels that God put in her way to help her. She was a very positive, optimistic person, she always had a smile on her face, I rarely saw her really sad, very few times; in the face of adversity she always kept her serenity, tranquility, she was a hard worker.

She always had a word of encouragement for me and when not, she scolded me saying "And that's why you cry silly girl? dry those tears and go ahead" after that, I recovered almost immediately, because I put myself in her place, alone with her son, without support and she was always firm in her struggles and positive, sometimes I thought I did not know how she did it and I felt weak before her and I was ashamed. She was one of my positive impulses and friendships that I kept close to me because of what she transmitted to me, positive energy, enthusiasm for life, zest for life, she was very cheerful.

As the years went by she met someone and had her second baby. This couple did not want to continue with her and her baby and she had to continue now with her two children alone. She was unlucky in love. But that did not paralyze her, on the contrary, she dedicated herself to work, to take care of her children, to buy her house with many sacrifices and her things for her new home, but at the same time she felt a small lump in one of her breasts and that was the beginning of a tough battle she had to face, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and from then on, her life changed.

Her routines, work and so on, now she had to focus on herself, on being more with her children in all this process, she did everything she could, she fought like a lioness, because she did not want to leave her children alone, one already a teenager and the other 6 years old, I still remember that time, Those were hellish days for her and for all of us who loved her, operations, pain, her long hair falling out, looking physically weak, that bothered her a lot, she was used to fend for herself for everything, that frustrated her a lot, but nevertheless she did not give up.

I tried to be with her as much as I could, but in the end I had to accompany my friend to her final destination, cancer won the battle to this warrior, but she gave battle and until the end she remained serene. It was very sad her departure, I felt very helpless, but at the same time I knew that she would not have wanted that, neither with me nor with her children, maybe she would have told me if she could, and that's why you cry silly girl, kisses in heaven my dear Ana.