Beautiful Girl: Extraordinary stories from my last 12 days with Espa帽ola鈥檚 Purple Lady, Rosal铆a Triana
When I heard my good friend Rosal铆a was going into hospice, I first feared not being able to say goodbye. So I rushed to the hospital then sat by her side every day. It was Rosal铆a-time. Full of stories, and pain, and beatitude. I fumbled through The Tibetan Book of the Dead, watched her face light up when her loved ones came by, and sat silently in her room learning how to be ready for anything.
I don鈥檛 know if it was the morphine, or her lifelong studies of the transitions between worlds, but Rosal铆a had some interesting things to say during those 12 days. Sitting next to her bed one afternoon, she drifted off but when she came back, she said excitedly:
I just died!
You did?
Yeah!
What was it like?
It鈥檚 open. So open.
The other side? I asked.
Yeah! I am opening still.
With Rosa, time was out of time, the love intensified, and writing about it was one more of our creative projects together. I posted every day so her friends and family could feel close to her, and when she passed, they asked me to put it all in one place, hence this 鈥渂ookita,鈥� our last project together. Dying is another part of living, and grieving, too. I hope that these stories and remembrances are of service to you.
