Be Kind

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions.

I spent a magical 10 days in the Dominican Republic, getting to know my homeland and spending time with my mother's childhood/life friends. I saw a happiness in my mother I hadn't seen in years. I saw her laugh wholeheartedly, smile broadly, and share her day to day frustrations with someone who understood her in a much deeper level than I. My heart was warmed by everything I took in those 10 days.

Prior to returning to NYC, my grandmother suddenly became blind in one eye. The week of our return was spent in and out of the hospital, translating, praying, and waiting for results. She's still blind in one eye, but she's home. My anxiety and my fears were heightened for a while, but have now lowered to a lull. I'm thankful her blindness was not an indication of something much worse.

I spent several days with my boyfriend once back in NYC. We laughed, had dinner, went shopping, partied. We enjoyed each other's company completely. We basked in our joy, discussed our future, and spend time with close friends. We were on a high.

Yesterday afternoon my heart sank deep into my chest at the receipt of terrible news. A close friend was gunned down in the Texas club V Live. He was the nephew of my brother's girlfriend, his name was Yordan Izquierdo. He arrived from Cuba about a year ago, hoping to work and provide for his family back home. He spent the holidays, and most BBQ's with my family, so he was family. He moved to Texas about a month ago for a business opportunity. He was 27, kind, hard working, a chill dude. His family would like for him to return home to Cuba. I'm heart broken, I wish I could have embraced him tighter the last time we said goodbye.

Between tears and moments of reflection, the words that keep coming back to me are, be kind. Our time, our energy, should be spent being kind. It should be spent telling those we love how we feel about them, and showing it to them. The things we worry about, get worked up about, all seem irrelevant when we consider our entire world can change in one second. There are so many things out of our control, but kindness is something we can share to ease the pain of what we may come our way.

Let's be kind.