Angel

Angel Placer Madera (Angui) is Piti’s cousin and the brother of my heart.

When Piti and I were little, Angui walked us to Nuestra Señora de Lourdes school in La Víbora, making sure to keep us safe.  He is a few years older than we are so he didn’t participate in our games but he was always there, someone we knew we could talk to, someone who made us laugh, someone we could trust.

Angui was a beautiful young man.  He had blonde hair and intelligent blue eyes and had a million friends who loved him.  But he always made time for family, because family has always been the most important thing in his life, and I am blessed to have been included in that circle.

As Angui guided our steps and protected us when we were little girls, he has been our angel in exile.  Angui is the rememberer, the historian, the one who can relate anecdotes from his childhood and ours and knows just about everything about our families and neighbors as well as our country’s history,

I have much to thank Angui for.  When my cousins Pedrito and Juan Enrique were dying of AIDS many years ago, Angui and his partner Bill were there for both of them every step of the way.  No hesitation, no thought for themselves, they loved them and helped them to the end.  They navigated the waters of family intolerance without fear and with devotion displaying an uncommon loyalty.

When my mother passed away in Miami, I was standing with my father and a few people who showed up to her funeral when I felt two hands holding my shoulders.  Angui and Piti’s brother Rafi, my two “adopted” brothers, had come to be with me.  Angui had flown all the way from Washington DC to be there without telling me.

Besides his amazing memory, his sense of humor, his sensitivity, his loyalty and his rock solid love, Angui’s biggest gift to me has been his acceptance of me and his support in anything I have done.

When I embraced Sddha Yoga and Gurumayi gave me a spiritual name, Bhavani, he didn’t make fun of me as many in my family did.  Instead he began to address his emails to Bhavani and gave himself the indian name Patel, and gave us both the last name Garcia so we could be brother and sister.  Not to say that he might not have been privately amused at yet another eccentricity of his beloved Yolie/Adrianne-but he went with it and made it fun and made it special.

Sometimes when Revolutions happen, the universe compensates by sending us an angel.  Angui has been mine.  Angel Placer Madera, you have been a steady light in my life’s darkest moments and a joy to share the sunshine with in its lightest.  I have no words with which to thank the universe for you!

Aptly, here is a wonderful turkey recipe that could make your Thanksgiving very special, courtesy of Angui for my blog readers.  It is a recipe from his cousin.