If I Could Go Back In Time…
I will miss his voice. Him and dad used to sing beautifully together. There are certain songs that just will never be the same again. And even in speech, he just had a special kind of sound. "Reyna!" (his wife and my aunt) I can still hear it in my head. When I told my Joaquin about his passing, which wasn't easy, he just couldn't fathom it. "No mom, we're supposed to water the plants together when he gets out of the hospital!" He loved Tio Benny from the moment he met him. Can you imagine how his grandchildren must be feeling?
He had the kind of sense of humor that had you guessing: is he joking? Is he serious? When he got you, he got you good. He looked serious but he definitely had a playful side. Tio Benjamin was also dignified.There was an air about him that said he was important and in no other place was he more so than in his home. Family was everything. We are lucky that was extended to the rest of us. As his niece, I never thought of him as someone who was "just" related through marriage. He was my uncle and that was that.
I didn't know if I should write about another beautiful soul leaving us, but to not say that he will be missed seemed wrong. COVID has been devastating. I know in a year social media will want to remind me...and then the year after that. His absence will be forever felt but as his kids and my aunt stand strong and at peace, we will all stand with them, and celebrate, honor, the memory of who he was.
There were no recent family portraits left behind. This broke my cousin’s heart and she requested that I take some of them now…wanting to make sure she has some portraits with mom. It was both a beautiful and sad day. For my aunt in particular, it was difficult. Heartbreaking. She later admitted: “I felt like I was missing a limb.” But she stood there with a smile on her face for her child and grandkids.
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” -A. Siskind
Rest In Peace, Tio Benjamin. "No habra mas llanto, ni mas tristeza ni mas dolor..."
