Life, Silva style!!: Rest in Peace Hopie!

As most of us know, life is so unfair sometimes. Today is April 1st--the one day of the year that most everyone joins in on pulling pranks on their friends and family, and just having fun. Some of these pranks are clean and innocent, while others are just plain mean. I remember the first April 1st Armando and I spent together. He had never really experienced the pranks people do to one another. When I pulled a few pranks on him and yelled April Fools!!, he must have misunderstood me, because after that, he would try to pull a fast one on me and then he would yell April FIRST!! We made fun of him so much! Those are good memories for not only me, but for the kids as well.

Anyway, while most of the people are so incredibly happy, still, others are suffering.
One family I know of that is suffering so much right now is the Monroe/Baker family from Alliance. They have suffered an incredible loss because they lost a beautiful, loving and giving person last night. Her name was Hope Monroe Baker. Hope has been suffering from the debilatating disease of Diabetes, among other ailments. I last spoke to Hope about a month ago while she was hospitalized. That time, she was hospitalized for about 6 weeks because she had to have her foot amputated due to the horrible disease of Diabetes. Her hospital stay was long and tiring because after the amputation had been done, infection set in. We chatted on the phone for almost 2 hours, just catching up and laughing. A lot! She excitedly told me of how quickly she was learning to move herself from the bed to the wheelchair and back, and how she was such a good student that the nurses were very happy with her progress. I clearly remember how amazed I was at her attitude. I even told her how much I admired her because in light of all she was going through, she was so upbeat and happy! She was so optimistic for the future and her recovery. She spoke of her husband lovingly building her a ramp to their front door and she went on and on about her sons and granddaughter. They were, without a doubt, her greatest pride and joy. I mentioned to Hope that day that my kids' Spring Break was coming up in April, and we excitedly made plans for me to go to Alliance and have lunch during that time. Unfortunately, that never happened because Spring Break here isn't until next week, and it just breaks my heart that I never had that opportunity to have spent the day with her. Hope spent a lot of time on Facebook playing various games and ALWAYS asking for help on different levels she was trying to reach on these games. I always smiled when I saw that on my wall, and I will certainly miss seeing that from now on. Hope's husband posted a message on her Facebook wall this morning about her passing and mentioned that he was going to be leaving her profile up for a couple days for her friends to be able to post their last messages to her, but that he would be deleting her profile in a few days...

I got this quote from my cousin Diana:

Yesterday, God saw how much misery our dear friend Hope was in and how tired she was, and He extended His arms to her and said "My child, take my hand and I will end your pain." She is with Him now. Gone, but never forgotten...