recuerdo de gonz

I am grateful that Mom is on her way to Goa. We pray for her safe arrival and for all who are together and gathering in Goa and Mumbai to remember Gonzaga. Here in Nicaragua my family and I are remembering Gonzaga and praying for all in India and the US and everywhere who also love dear cousin, brother, friend, colleague, teacher Gonzi. My family here is great – over the past four plus years that I have lived with them they have gotten to know Gonzi through all the times he comes up in stories about our family in Seattle and India -- Delivering pizza in the snow -- studying insects -- international scholarships -- recreation therapy with adults and youth with disabilities -- fancy crusty bread -- conferences around the country, and world -- visiting dona Gertrudes in every vacation -- Birkenstock sandals -- coming to Seattle to watch Grandma Doris when we were away -- the death of his friends in the car accident -- not drinking -- the parakeets -- car Sally -- qualitative research -- being a loving best friend to Mom -- ethnographies with older graduate students and aptly-named ¨Dr. Kool¨ -- mentoring university and grad students -- teaching the ever-popular quality of life class -- Starbucks coffee -- grant writing -- sturdy shoes for walking -- visiting Grandma Doris first thing from the airport -- helping with the driving -- accompanying me to Safeway -- Chinese restaurants – Greenlake -- working at the laptop at the dining table -- drinking ice water -- deli turkey -- family holidays -- life, family and friends in San José -- Grandma Doris´s funeral -- always ready to help, to accompany, to listen -- chatting on gmail at work or by cell phone ¨Hola, cómo estás mi amiga?¨ he would greet me -- encouraging me to pursue the internship in Nicaragua -- that Mexican restaurant in Berkeley with flour tortilla chips -- helping me identify for myself what I wanted -- loving his friends and loving being with his friends -- taking good emotional and spiritual care of himself that allowed him to take good care of others -- putting into practice and acknowledging the importance of doing what one loves in the days that we´ve got ¨Life is gooood J¨ Gonz reminded us. Gonz spent the time in trial and error in figuring out for himself what made him come alive and living his life accordingly. I/We loved being around Gonzi because as someone true to himself he was alive to all of us. It´s hard to comprehend that Gonzi is gone, that just five days ago he was enjoying a long-awaited safari trip and emailing us about how much fun he was having… I am sad that Gonzi will not be calling me on my cell phone from San José, chatting online from Goa, or sleeping over on long weekends in Seattle. I think of Mom nearing her arrival in Mumbai who will see Gonzi´s body one last time and be together with all our family to remember him. I am thinking of all of you and especially on Monday for Gonzi´s burial. I am grateful for my dear cousin and friend Gonz and the example and love and honesty he has shared with me. I love you Gonzi. Thank goodness he has strung us all together to support one another, too. Love, Ranae

Ranae DeSouza,

Nicaragua.