Chiquita

A couple of months after my first kid was born we were living in an upper story apartment in Albany California. We had a roommate. He was a student and a party animal but more important he was a really nice guy. We did some road trips with him and with some of his girlfriends once in a while.

He told us in advance that he had a girlfriend coming for a week or so and that he wanted us to help him entertain her. I was more than happy to help him out because he was always there for me no matter what I asked of him.

The girlfriend showed up and I picked her up at the airport with him. I drove them around the bay area to show her all the sights. She was young and kind of thin but she was the happiest person I had been around for a very long time. I drove up through Tilden Park to show her the Bay Area from the high lookouts there and over to the Golden Gate Bridge and pretty much everything in between. She told us that seeing California for the first time was a dream she has had for her entire life. She just bubbled with enthusiasm for everything I showed her and every place we went. She loved the seals at Seal Rock and the gulls and boats at Fisherman's Wharf. We checked out the houseboats over at Sausalito and checked out the ocean at Muir beach. Her favorite place was the temporary sculptures street artists made along the bay shore in Emeryville. It was a blast showing her around.

Over the next week we toured the wine country at Napa Valley and drove down to Santa Cruz to spend time on the beach and to go to the boardwalk. We rode the Steam train and the roller coaster and other rides. We went to restaurants in Monterey and Chinatown and everyplace we could think of that was great food or was just a fun experience for her.

She loved holding our baby. She talked about the miracle of life and rebirth when she held him. I thought it was touching to see her so enthralled with life and living. We took her to Yosemite Valley and over to the Nevada side to see the casinos there. We came back through Lake Tahoe.

Finally after a hectic week of almost constant activities it was time for her to go back home. I drove her to the airport and made her promise to come back soon. She promised she would because it was the best time of her life. I believed her because I felt the same way about her visit.

On the way back to my house from the airport we talked about her and how skinny she was. I mentioned that she looked a bit tired after all of our fun. We talked about how she was such a sweet nice fun loving person and how she was always so happy. My friend started to cry and told me she was his inspiration for his life. I was kind of surprised by his emotional response. He told me he would marry her if he had the chance. Her name was Chiquita. She promised to come back and I told him he should propose to her on her next visit if he really wanted to marry her. He told me he would if he could and we drove home pretty much in silence from then on.

The next day I needed to relax after so much driving and sightseeing for the last week. I pretty much did nothing except think about all the fun things we did with Chiquita and relax. I made a nice dinner and we went to bed.

The next morning we were eating some breakfast together when the phone rang. My friend answered the phone and spoke quietly into the phone down the hallway from where I was making breakfast. A couple of minutes later he told me that the phone was for me and handed the phone over. I said hello and a women gave me a cheerful hello back. Then she told me she wanted to thank me for helping to make the last wish of her daughter come true. I did not know what she was talking about. She went through effusive multiple thank yous while she told me about how for her entire lifetime Chiquita had always wanted to see California. She told me about the pictures she drew about California from her hospital bed all the time. She told me she had never seen such a happy daughter as she was the day she returned home from the visit with us. She started to talk in past tense. I suddenly got very uncomfortable. She went on to tell me that Chiquita had died earlier that morning from her Leukemia. She had been in the hospital for the last couple of years and she left the hospital to fulfill her last dream of visiting California. She knew it would kill her before she left. It was planned. I was shocked and had to hand the phone back to my friend. He just hugged me and told her mom goodbye for now. She will always be my favorite memory of every road trip I ever took or will take in the future. I will never forget her love of life even in her death.