My Friend Sandra - Beatriz Piza

Sandra became one of my best friends by becoming my inspiration… having a history of ovarian cysts, Sandra and I could relate to each other deeply, probably more than she ever knew… Her advice, her support (and Hernan’s) throughout the most difficult times of my life, is a gift I will always treasure. But it was her strength and courage that went beyond words, and she could easily lift you just by the tone of her voice.

BEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAA…

And so I miss her “Beeeeeaaaaaaaa… cómo estás?” and the stories that came after that, her insights unto the world and situations, unto friendship, unto everything around us, but most of all HER INSIGHT UNTO YOUR SOUL. Sandra knew those around her, she knew her friends, she knew their stories, she knew mine… and all throughout our friendship, that continuous even now, just thinking of her would make anyone embarrassed of not facing life upfront and to the fullest.

She’d lead you unknowingly, with her honest simplicity and outlook on life towards a path of gratitude and bliss… and to honor her is to live life to the fullest and love life with whatever it offers you. I learned that from her, I learned that from my Friend Sandra…


GETTING TO KNOW SANDRA …

I met Sandra thru Hernan, who I met just after arriving in Costa Rica, where we both worked for Nativa. A couple of months after his arrival, this beautiful smile and kind face popped up thru the office door saying “Hooolaaaa!”: Little did I know at the time that life had introduced me to 2 of my best friends!!!

Hernan told us about their struggle with Cancer with incredible admiration for Sandra, and at the office we all fell in love with them. So to talk about Sandra, I also have to talk about Hernan, because I started to know her thru him: even though life had put them thru this really difficult situation, Hernan would be at work early every single day, even sick, and that used to amaze me, and once I got to know Sandra I understood because she NEVER EVER let cancer be an excuse to stop doing ANYTHING!!! Knowing that, we would love hearing Hernan answering his phone with a huge smile, saying “Pax” or “Packs” (never really knew how they spelled it)… it changed his day completely!! And it inspired us all to see that deep love they held for each other in the midst of such trials… it inspired us to love!

So even though our friendship began thru my working with Hernan, I began to know Sandra already aware of what she was made of: strength, kindness, courage, sincerity, life-full, warm, and lovingly-goofy!!


RAINBOW TREES

It did not take long to find out that this incredibly sweet, straight-forward person was a BRAIN for Trees… her knowledge and sensitivity for everything the forests had to offer was a contagious passion that overflowed. And so working in Land-Planning, I sought the first opportunity to work together, and we did with PUNTA GARZA (for all of you who are curious, its ´located in the province of Guanacaste, in Costa Rica). Even though the pay was far from outstanding, she took it on as if we were being paid a bundle, and I loved her for it.

She went thru lists of 4,000 trees (we got tired of counting) with a precision and diligence that could exhaust anyone: we would work for hours, stopping every once in a while to talk about anything (yeap… I drove her crazy as well!). I had in front of me this young woman who was going thru so much health-wise, with such dignity and strength and poise, and love for the NOW…. and that is how she became my dearest friend.

We would drive to Guanacaste 5.5 hours away, coming back the same day, in my old, very hot-Suzuki Sidekick (hot meaning temperature-hot, NOT hot meaning cool), with the air conditioning not working, and the radio chirping: Not the most comfortable situation, and she NEVER complained…!!! Needless to say, as soon as I bought a new car, the first friends I wanted to show it to were Sandra and Hernan: Great Air-conditioning + Great Stereo system! It was perfect for a Sandra-Bea trip!

Once in Punta Garza, she would cheer me up a mountain in the middle of this very-hot day, when I was already looking for oxygen half way thru!!! And then in the midst of a very desirable shadow, her passion would just shine thru once again, seeing all the life that sprung from the forest floor. She taught me to look beyond, to the see the beauty under every leaf… Gerardo, the Biologist in the project, this really simple, hard-working man, full of knowledge, loved Sandra right away, and every single time we talked, he would always ask for Sandra.

So it was working on that project that we got to talking about how to ensure color all year thru, and she had already identified the flowering times of all the trees, at different times of the year… she ensured a rainbow of colors among the greens the trees dressed with. And so from that moment on, when I see a flowering-tree, specially the FLOR BLANCA, a huge smile pops up on my face, I’m filled with awe and respect for Sandra, and with deep gratitude, because thru that project Sandra became MY DEAR FRIEND…

HERNAN’S RAIN DANCE

Punta Garza was a paradise bathed by 2 beaches, one with pink sand… yes, actual PINK. The place is just breathtaking, and so Sandra and I planned this amazing camping trip for a weekend with Hernan, Arnoldo and Sofia. We had all of it schemed up so Hernan had no way of saying no… NOTE: we are talking about the Hernan who thinks that you just need a sweater in the middle of winter… the same Hernan who thinks the freezer of the fridge is way too hot… so convincing him was no easy task! But then you’d hear Sandra’s “Uuuuuuuuu… I’ve got it…” and we schemed to take any possible gadget that produced air, packing them along OFF for mosquitoes and everything else you could think of… Sandra and I laughed our hearts off just planning the trip…

And so everything started falling into place and the trip was on… YES, even Hernan was coming!!!! Departure morning came and RAIN poured… a hurricane or storm was going right over the Punta Garza area… Sandra and I kept checking the Satellite images blowing at the monitor to make the clouds go away, only to see more clouds forming… (with Hernan probably clapping behind) but we kept the faith. And so we kept on checking hoping the clouds would dissipate by a miracle… but NOT A CHANCE! He obviously was very sad and disappointed when we finally gave up and cancelled the trip…

So Sandra and I joked around saying Hernan probably was up all night doing the Rain-Dance, in hope of avoiding extensive heat and mosquitoes for 3 days… It must have been one incredible dance, because there was rain for over a month!

SANDRA’S LOVE TOUCH WITH HERNAN

Working together, Hernan and I looked more like brother and sister (I basically adopted him). Being both of strong character, we could easily get into a good argument (I could easily get on his nerves too…), but in 2 hours we would completely forget about it. But sometimes I had to turn to a secret weapon: Sandra’s Love Touch with Hernan… oh yes!!! There came a few times when we needed it! So at the office we would cross fingers for Sandra to call, and just by hearing us she’d know my dear Argentinean friend had been letting off steam JUSTIFIABLY out of his frustration with our burocracy... so I’d love it when she asked in her own way: “Is Hernan behaving…? Put him on!”. Let me tell you all: Sandra had the way to unwind him FAST and make him smile immediately!!!!!!! POWERFUL WEAPON! It worked like a charm every time!

SANDRA’s MAGICAL CREAM (LA CREMA MAGICA DE SANDRA)

But Sandra’s love touch extended way beyond… she had the magic touch as well!! My daughter Sofia, who is now almost 9, just fell in love with Hernan and Sandra immediately, but she had her own thing with Sandra.

One weekend in Nativa (yes… they were there working even on weekends!), I was there with my husband Arnoldo and Sofia, who was 4 at the time (Sofia writes):

“Sandra and I were looking at and following an Armadillo right there on the grass, that was looking for ants, so he would stick his tongue out to eat them. And then I saw my feet and they were full of ants that were biting me. It was hurting a lot and Sandra ran inside the house and got her “Magic-Cream” that made the itch go away really fast. So from that moment on when I see an Armadillo or a Butterfly, I remember Sandra and when a mosquito bites me I run looking for Sandra’s MAGIC-CREAM”

That day, Sandra warmed her way unto Sofia’s heart and Sofia became Sandra’s biggest admirer… and Sandra became Sofia’s friend…

FINDING BUTTERFLIES…

I know we are all seeing Sandra EVERYWHERE, in every BUTTERFLY, but Sofia’s connection with Sandra has led her to butterflies everywhere. For us any Butterfly IS Sandra, but for Sofia, each Butterfly is SANDRA LOOKING OUT FOR HER (in Sofia’s words)… So for us to find a Butterfly has become each time a MAGICAL MOMENT…

And so when Sofi needs inspiration or help for a Science Fair presentation, or a Father’s Daughter-Bowling Tournament, she’ll put on a Butterfly shirt, or her Butterfly necklace, bought thinking of Sandra 2 weeks ago…

At the end of May, we went to fly a Kite: Sofia wanted to buy the Butterfly kite. We went up this little hill, and once we started flying it, it stayed up in the air. There were a few moments we thought it would fall, but somehow, for almost an hour it stayed up there. Later that night Sofia said to me that when it was about to fall she would see it almost like being lifted from the bottom up, and that she thought Sandra was lifting it up because she would want to fly like the butterfly. (almost her exact words…). Here she is that day, with Arnoldo and our dog Campeon.

CHANGING APARTMENTS…

Helping Hernan change apartments while Sandra was in N.C., was a breeze because she had it all meticulously planned ahead of time, in a super organized binder. She knew where to locate everything room-by-room. But when it came to the sofas, we had a dilemma with the position in relation to the Cable-TV outlet on the wall… We knew Sandra wanted them that way but we thought she had overseen the outlet was on the other side: So after a few minutes trying to figure how it would work best, we saw Sandra’s side note on the binder, where she stated that EVEN with the outlet position not matching, the sofas were best there for several reasons that made complete sense… Needless to say we ended up looking at each other feeling quite dumb, bursting into a laugh because she had already figured it out way ahead of us: THAT WAS SANDRA!!!

SANDRA’S COMPASSION

My Mom’s youngest sister in Spain, Tia Pili, was diagnosed with cancer… Her 4 month battle was devastating for my Mom, because she had lost a brother and a sister only 4 days from each other, and she herself had suffered a stroke a few months before…

Sandra did not know my aunt… she’d met my mother once, but as soon as she knew my mother was going to see her, she prepared a gift for my aunt, and a loving Butterfly note. My mother was overwhelmed by this, and so was my Tia Pili, who called me with her faint sweet voice just to ask about my friend Sandra, and to thank her for the energy that sprung in her as she read the note. She told my mother I was incredibly lucky to have such a friend… I AGREE

And so I toast to my friend SANDRA, who taught me Life, Compassion, who radiated love, warmth, affection, straightforwardness, lots of loving-goofiness, and a LIFE WITH NO EXCUSES:

SANDRA, YOU DID IT RIGHT! And you will always be in my heart…