"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my FRIEND you'll be"

Vani, pregnant with Fermín.

Today, more than ever I remember that day as if it was yesterday. It was 2009 and we were having our Portuguese class and she got into the classroom and said a timid “Hi” and blushed. She was short, had long brown hair and when she smiled, she hinted the most beautiful and perfect smile I’ve ever seen. However, we did not talk much that day. The following class she told us her name was Vanina and that she was a single mother of a 6 year-old boy, Tomás. Now, five years later she is a caring and loving mother of three beautiful children and also one of my loved best friends.

It did not take long for me to realize of her charming and generous inner self. Not only does she give everything she has (and sometimes even more), but also she does it without asking anything in return. I actually do not know where she keeps such a big heart in such a small body!  For instance, when my dad passed away, despite the fact she had not experienced such a thing she stood always by my side, crying with me if she felt like it, and those are moments that I still and always will cherish in my heart.

Me holding Selena and Vani at Dani's
wedding day.

Even though she became a mother when she was only 18, she is a very devoted one and her children are always first in her life. When we gather to have dinner together she always brings her kids over and they behave really well. Tomás (11), particularly, is as generous as she is and every time he sees me he gives me the warmest hug and invites me to sleep over. She does such a great effort to educate her children to be good human beings; she teaches them to empathize and sympathize with others and helps them to be aware of how lucky they are to have a family that loves them and takes care of them. Hence they are always helping the ones who need it the most and that is exactly what I admire the most about Vanina. She has always had it all but she is not selfish; if it was for her, she would deprive herself from her own clothes and would offer them to you. That’s Vani, beautiful from the inside and the outside.

Also, she is the funniest of all! She always knows what to say to make you laugh. She used to ease our long afternoons at the institute telling us jokes and she always did it when the teacher was talking or in inappropriate moments when she knew we could not laugh out loud so as to make us suffer. One afternoon she was acting weird, she did not laugh that much and she looked nervous. We went to take a walk through the back corridors of the institute and she told me she was pregnant with Selena and I was the second person to know. She was so happy and scared because she did not how I was going to react. Again, she was more worried about what I felt than what she or her own family could feel about it. That’s Vani, always placing other people’s feelings ahead her own.

A few years ago, when Vani was still pregnant with Selena, she lost her father and as I knew what she was going through and how she was feeling, I “returned” her the favor and stood at her side as she had done with me. However, she was the one who was trying to comfort me and everyone else. That’s Vani, my friend, a woman who thinks that other people’s needs are more important than her own.

Tomi (11), Fermín (1 month) and Sele (2).
Vani's children

Sadly, yesterday Vani was driving her children to town and she lost control of her car and hit a tree. She had to undergo a brain surgery due to a skull trauma whilst her children were sent home. The doctors say that her condition is “critical”. I just cannot think of her being asleep in bed and her children at home waiting for her. It’s just so heartbreaking that I cannot find the words to express how I feel! I just want to see her again, I want to see her smiling and I want to tell her how much I love her and how much I love her kids and I want to thank her for bringing joy to my life every time she was near. Vani is strong, she is a fighter and we are proud to call her friend. I have no regrets, I have always told her and demonstrated her how much I love her and how much I care about her and I know that it is reciprocal. I just would like to tell her everything once more. So, PLEASE, let’s pray for her and her soon recovery. We want to see that perfect shiny smile again and as she used to say, we were supposed to go to hell the five of us together, so Vani, PLEASE WAKE UP! You supported us when we needed you the most and here we are, supporting you and your family and waiting for you.

We love you forever.

“Promise me you’ll always remember that you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think” (Christopher Robin)

From left to right: Dani, Cinthya, me and Vani.