She began to fail after a long fight with diseased organs subsequent to heavy mold in her home a few years ago. Her spleen, kidneys and liver were compromised, she got treatment from time to time in the states (her two brothers are physicians), but she kept this to herself, continuing to perform her music, to teach many people to play the piano and to sing their hearts out, even if they'd always thought that singing was impossible.
During the last month a group of friends have gathered to do whatever needed doing, getting her into and out of the hospital, and when it became clear that further measures were futile, hospice was called in and took care of her at home.
One of her brothers became touched and not a little curious about why we were all so feverish in our activities to help her, why so many went out our ways to do whatever small thing we could.
I wrote to him:
"Your questions reflect good insights into what's going on in our joint-effort wave of activity for Elena; it's often what happens in foreign-land-ex-pat communities--families form within certain neighborhoods and groups and overlap into others, because our birth families are in the states or elsewhere.
That interactive, adoptive familiarity constitutes who we become when we move here--someone needs something, somebody else scrambles around and comes up with it. Sight unseen, in many cases. We know we'll be taken care of too, if we've participated in this way (and in many cases even if we have not).
So that's San Miguel (or Vera Cruz or wherever) for you--we stick together naturally. But this brief bit of exposition doesn't complete the story here.
In the case of helping Elena in any way we can, perseverance and magic emerges and flies in all directions from the experience each of us has had with Elena herself. She loves life, loves people, loves the world every day, all the time--she loves us fiercely and we reciprocate the feeling. She exudes joie de vivre in the smallest encounter.
Elena'll fight for the underdog, fight for justice for people she doesn't even know, fight for lives of stray dogs, children, plants and the birds in the parks. That's contagious, but it's also affected us personally.
When we're down, she won't let us stay that way. She's a music teacher par excellence, because as Kathy said, she makes people feel they CAN do it--they can do anything--they can succeed and love it if they try.
Elena is an artist at living her life fully, at helping other people, just in casual conversation oftentimes, to live their lives fully. If somebody's sick, she's sympathetic but she won't let them stew in it--she'll give them the sheer will to step up and out of that illness or hardship, and into gratefulness for life.
Everyone needs an Elena in his/her life. By example she shows us the way things can be--good, good, good, all the time, even in the face of pain and trouble. Experiencing her friendship she holds us up and entertains us at the same time. Life's passions are the most important part of life: Elena demonstrates that all the time. She's one of a kind.
As an artist, the feeling of a piece to her is the main part of it--conveying that feeling, telling that story--and in that way she's even a conduit of truth for the composer. She makes the notes into visions, experiences, of reality.
That's what makes this particular group effort special...and in many ways it's just another group of friends and neighbors helping out in a crisis.
But the essence is to give back to--to take care of--Elena. The way she has given to and cared for us. Even in her pain now, she shows us we are all works in progress. . . worthy of reaching for sudden insight, sparks of interest, delight, no matter who we are.
Being a work in progress in Elena's singing group has meant more to me than many high-flung classes--and it's been far more fun. We love her--she's our friend, sister, teacher, champion. To champion her during a hard time--right to the end--means the world to us."
