The light that walks beside me

Ângela is her name.

She came into the light on 4 February 1981…

I was almost four years old when her body was no longer within my reach.

I spent all my time with her until she fell ill and was taken to the hospital.

The doctors gave her very little time to live.

She spent her last days among us.

She could no longer see, and her hearing was very limited.

Let’s just say that her senses had become greatly diminished…

Fortunately, her capacity to love remained completely intact.

My brothers and I were the light of her days.

Then one day I came home, and she was no longer there.

I asked over and over where my grandma was…

My mother didn’t know what to tell me.

She said that Grandma had gone to be with my grandfather… he had died very young.

“I want to go too!”

I wanted to be with my grandmother.

Her presence made me feel safe; it was real, and I felt she understood me.

Even today, her presence is still real.

I love her.

Every day, even if only for a few seconds, I feel her close to me.

It is as though she sits beside me, watching over my thoughts.

She has become an invisible, constant companion in my life.

I am grateful for everything she shared with me.

I am grateful that she gave me the mother I have.

I am grateful for the love she gave me during my first years of life.

I am grateful that she continues to accompany me now.

Whenever I think of her, I feel her with me, and not even death can take that away from me.

So I smile each year as another anniversary passes—the day when the light that walks beside me returned to its place within the great eternal Light.