Life is Beautiful!
This story is dedicated to all the mothers and fathers whose babies were stolen from them in Spain in the 1960's, years before the birth of Democracy in Spain. May they be found. May they find themselves.
Her name was Dara, or at least she thought. Always smiling, she looked up in a very special way each morning, as if life were a miracle. "But Dara, don't you ever have a bad day?" her friends asked her, trying to understand the secret of so much joy. "Sometimes, like everyone else," Dara always responded.
"How are you, Friend?" Dara added, with a smile that lit the world up, the whole universe. Her friend Frank could not stop from thinking that he had been so unlucky, and how difficult it was for him to feel optimistic in the face of so much adversity.
"I am going to tell you a story," Dara told him: "When I was born, my mother had to give me away in adoption. The chances of being adopted as an out-of-wedlock daughter were slim, if not inexistent. However, God had other plans for me, and threw me in the arms of the best mother a daughter could have ever had. That's why I smile so much: Life is beautiful! La vida es hermosa, my friend."
Frank smiled, held his friend's hand, and told her: "Thanks for letting me know that you are adopted, my friend. So am I, and this is precisely one of the reasons why I was feeling so sad."
"Sad? Why?" His friend's question made him smile again, but this time in a nostalgic way.
"Well, Dara, I guess I will never know why my mother abandoned me in that gofio mill in Agaete. Please don't think I'm not thankful, though. My family has taught me the importance of what is really important in life, but I somehow wonder what my life would be like if, instead of being raised in New York, I had lived in Gran Canaria."
Dara's face changed for the first time in a very long time, to the point that she had to ask her friend Frank: "What do you mean in Agaete? Were you adopted in Agaete, Frank?"
"That is what my birth certificate says, Dara. Why?"
"They stole another baby from my mother the day I was born. It was a baby boy, my twin brother, exactly 35 years ago, the 4th of ... "
Tears of happiness slid down Dara's and Frank's cheeks ... "... of July!" they both said at the same time.
"Hug me, brother!"
"I love you, sister!"
In the background, the Statue of Liberty seemed to wink at them, as if Fate had played a bad joke on them and were now putting things in their place.
"Life is beautiful!" they both said at the same time, laughing out loud, while they both enjoyed the beautiful view of the Hudson River and the Atlantic, the same ocean who witnessed their births.
"Fearless, you feel that good luck is with you
Bad things turn into blessings
If you want the stars, I will turn the sky upside down
Unafraid of craziness, unafraid of smiles"
Bad things turn into blessings
If you want the stars, I will turn the sky upside down
Unafraid of craziness, unafraid of smiles"
-Rosana Arbelo (translation: Deborah Martel Rogers)
Her name was Dara, or at least she thought. Always smiling, she looked up in a very special way each morning, as if life were a miracle. "But Dara, don't you ever have a bad day?" her friends asked her, trying to understand the secret of so much joy. "Sometimes, like everyone else," Dara always responded.
"How are you, Friend?" Dara added, with a smile that lit the world up, the whole universe. Her friend Frank could not stop from thinking that he had been so unlucky, and how difficult it was for him to feel optimistic in the face of so much adversity.
"I am going to tell you a story," Dara told him: "When I was born, my mother had to give me away in adoption. The chances of being adopted as an out-of-wedlock daughter were slim, if not inexistent. However, God had other plans for me, and threw me in the arms of the best mother a daughter could have ever had. That's why I smile so much: Life is beautiful! La vida es hermosa, my friend."
Frank smiled, held his friend's hand, and told her: "Thanks for letting me know that you are adopted, my friend. So am I, and this is precisely one of the reasons why I was feeling so sad."
"Sad? Why?" His friend's question made him smile again, but this time in a nostalgic way.
"Well, Dara, I guess I will never know why my mother abandoned me in that gofio mill in Agaete. Please don't think I'm not thankful, though. My family has taught me the importance of what is really important in life, but I somehow wonder what my life would be like if, instead of being raised in New York, I had lived in Gran Canaria."
Dara's face changed for the first time in a very long time, to the point that she had to ask her friend Frank: "What do you mean in Agaete? Were you adopted in Agaete, Frank?"
"That is what my birth certificate says, Dara. Why?"
"They stole another baby from my mother the day I was born. It was a baby boy, my twin brother, exactly 35 years ago, the 4th of ... "
Tears of happiness slid down Dara's and Frank's cheeks ... "... of July!" they both said at the same time.
"Hug me, brother!"
"I love you, sister!"
In the background, the Statue of Liberty seemed to wink at them, as if Fate had played a bad joke on them and were now putting things in their place.
"Life is beautiful!" they both said at the same time, laughing out loud, while they both enjoyed the beautiful view of the Hudson River and the Atlantic, the same ocean who witnessed their births.
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