The first person I want to write about is Rosario, one of the most remarkable women I have ever met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was Spanish. I met her through my ex-boyfriend, Joaquin. She was his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first time I met her was at Christmas in 2018. I flew from Milan to Spain to spend Christmas with Joaquin\u2019s family for the first time. Before I arrived, I jokingly asked Joaquin whether he would bring me flowers when he picked me up at the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I walked out of the airport, he was standing there holding a living orchid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told me that if he was going to give someone flowers, he preferred giving something that could stay alive for a long time. He also told me orchids were his mother\u2019s favorite flowers. In a way, that was my first impression of Rosario \u2014 even before I met her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we arrived at their home in Madrid, I finally met her in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had short hair. She was petite, very slim and fit, and wore black glasses. The first thing she did was give me a huge, warm, proper hug.I remember thinking immediately: now I understand why Joaquin knows how to give such good hugs. At the time, I could barely speak Spanish, and she did not speak much English. Somehow, though, our conversations never seemed difficult.She was an extraordinary listener. She was supportive, perceptive, and deeply wise. She had the rare ability to make you feel that what you were saying truly mattered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joaquin told me that their family had a Christmas tradition: everyone prepared gifts for everyone else. So that year, I prepared something for each member of his family.I no longer remember most of the gifts I gave, but there is one I still remember very clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bought a tiny deer-shaped hand warmer for Rosario\u2019s mother \u2014 Joaquin\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Years later, after his grandmother passed away, I learned that the little hand warmer was still sitting beside the bed where she had slept. Apparently, that small gesture left a strong impression on Rosario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that Christmas, she told Joaquin that he should treat me well because I was a very thoughtful girl. Although the relationship with Joaquin eventually came to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But somehow, my relationship with his family did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They continued to treat me like family. I spent two Christmases with them, and throughout those visits, I constantly felt something that was difficult to describe: I felt respected, welcomed, and fully included. I remember the first time I visited their home in Ponferrada. I noticed that my birthday had been written on their family calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That tiny detail moved me more than they probably realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And from then on, every year, without fail, I would receive messages from Rosario and Joaquin’s father on my birthday, during Chinese festivals, at Christmas, and on other important occasions. Her messages would always come with many kisses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For someone who had spent so many years living alone in a foreign country, those small gestures meant more than I can explain. They made me feel remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Rosario herself lived a life that I deeply admired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was an ophthalmologist \u2014 hardworking, highly professional, and deeply committed to her work. But work was only one part of her life.She loved skiing, dancing, collecting hand fans, reading, art, hiking, and traveling. She was endlessly curious about the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though we did not spend that much time together, I always felt that there was an instinctive understanding between us.It was almost as if we recognized something in each other immediately.Somewhere deep inside, I felt that we were similar.And in the years that followed, I began to understand that feeling even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2019, Rosario went skiing in France with Joaquin\u2019s father. She had a terrible accident and broke her knee badly.She went through three major surgeries. Her knee had to be reconstructed, followed by more than two years of rehabilitation.And just as she was slowly beginning to recover, the pandemic arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then her mother passed away. Later, her younger brother passed away as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not long after that, Rosario developed a persistent cough after got COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she went for tests, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After everything she had already been through with her knee, life had placed another enormous challenge in front of her.The doctors were not very optimistic about her condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Rosario fought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She went through chemotherapy. She tried different treatments. She kept looking for possibilities.Day after day, she kept going.There were many extremely difficult moments. At one point, she almost died during an operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And even while fighting cancer, she made a decision that I will always remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
she was still going to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She continued traveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She continued spending time with the people she loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her whole family traveled together to Iceland, and despite everything her body had been through, she still completed a long hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was Rosario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She did not wait for life to become easy before she allowed herself to live it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, at the end of June 2025, Joaquin suddenly called me.He told me that the doctors believed Rosario did not have much time left.After I hung up the phone, I sat there feeling completely torn.Then I booked a flight for that weekend to Santiago de Compostela.I rented a car and drove directly to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I arrived at her room, it was full of people.Friends, colleagues, relatives \u2014 people were constantly arriving to see her and say goodbye.When I walked in, Rosario was sitting in the armchair and I got in to give her a big hug, thens she held my hand tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She thanked me for coming.Then she looked at me and told me that I was still shining, that I still looked full of light.She told me she hoped I would always stay that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep shining. Do not give up easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moment she said those words, I could no longer hold back my tears.There were so many things I wanted to say, but all I could really tell her was how grateful I was to have met her and her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told her that she was one of my role models.One of the people I respected most in my entire life.Later, I sat in the hospital room staring at the orchids beside her bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One person after another came through the door:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friends, Colleagues, Family members, people who had shared different parts of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were coming to say goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what struck me was that the atmosphere did not feel like the kind of heavy, ceremonial goodbye I had grown up associating with death.People came in almost as if they were visiting an old friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They talked and laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They sat beside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They shared ordinary moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was sadness, of course, but there was also warmth and familiarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life was still present in that room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then I saw her father, Francisco. He was already in his nineties.He was sitting beside his daughter, holding her hand tightly.That image broke something open inside me.Even now, when I think about it, my eyes immediately fill with tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An old father sitting beside his dying daughter, simply holding her hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was nothing to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the first time in my life that I truly understood what it meant to say goodbye to someone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I returned to Milan after the weekend.One week later, one morning, Joaquin called me again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosario had passed away that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After I hung up the phone, the tears came without warning. And even now, she still appears in my thoughts from time to time.I think of this petite Spanish woman with such extraordinary strength inside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman who faced one difficult thing after another and refused to surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman who fought until the very end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman who was kind, generous, curious, and deeply attentive to other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman full of wisdom, warmth, and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A woman who once told me to live happily, because somehow, things would be all right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps most of all, I remember the words she gave me near the end:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep shining, Do not give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosario, we all miss you. I hope wherever you are, there are orchids.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first person I want to write about is Rosario, one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. She was Spanish. I met her through my ex-boyfriend, Joaquin. She was his mother. The first time I met her was at Christmas in 2018. I flew from Milan to Spain to spend Christmas with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-person"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t