Someone...

When you grow up surrounded by what some may not define as the healthiest balance of love and tragedy, certain people stick out. There are those who are around you, living and breathing your every word, every step, every misstep you take. There are those who wipe your tears when your heart is broken, when your mom dies. There are those who laugh with you... not AT you, but always, ALWAYS, with you. That same laughter is as loud and as contagious a bad cold waiting for its germs to spread- sorry, you get the point. :)

Yes, there are those individuals, who individually have each of these qualities, or have played a specific role in your life. However, some people are all of this. Someone comes along into your life and it is just that... part of your life. In good times and bad times, in laughter and tears, in family reunions and sad funerals. At weddings and baptisms, and Mother's day (hello, cordero en salsa de pera!!! Jajaja) or at the classic, not-so-white Christmasy tradition of pig roasting on a stick, while drinking "CHEMPEIN PLIS" or at my personal favorite while living in exile, Don Q and Diet Coke, someone is there. Who-one? Someone.

That someone is one person. If you are blessed and lucky in life, you have a someone. You have a person. That someone is my aunt. That perfectly, imperfect balance of tragedy and bliss, she embodies. From premature deaths of loved ones, to premature weddings and premature babies, we cried. From premature crushes, mis-adventures and adventures in babysitting, we laughed! And we are still laughing!!!! :) Thank God, we are still laughing and the laughter outweighs the tears.

When a someone is able to look you in the eye and tell it like it is, it hurts. It sucks... THANK GOD it happens at the appropriate time and moment when you  (I!) need it the most. She is also the someone that wants us all to love her just the way she is... Don't we all want that?! Yes, we do. We are just afraid to admit it at times. She helps be my anchor, my biggest fan and often a bad critic. Again, an imperfectly, perfect balance.

She is that someone. Like the many someones each of us have that represent great memories of lives lived past, let's be thankful for that someone that at some point of another has left a mark forever imprinted in our hearts.

Having said that, there are different kinds of someones... The someone who is your buddy at school, your confidant, and even the barista at Starbucks who knows that at any moment you will order your grande, non-fat, peppermint mocha. She is my someone. Or even the bartender at my "Cheers" who has the bottle of Michelob Ultra waiting at my table by the time I arrive. He is that kind of someone.

Sometimes, suddenly and without warning, you meet a new someone. This time around, this someone is the one that looks into your eyes, actually feeling the penetrating look (it's true, trust me!) as it looks into your soul. This is the someone who stays up with you all night, talking, laughing, just being. This someone just makes you smile. Makes yourt heart smile. A new someone, unexpected. A new someone, welcomed. Open your heart and let many someones in.

May your life be filled with the many someones who make you happy, who cry with you and will forever hold your hands in friendship, family and love.