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When I heard my good friend RosalĂ­a was going into hospice, I first feared not being able to say goodbye. So I rushed to the hospital then sat by her side every day. It was RosalĂ­a-time. Full of stories, and pain, and beatitude. I fumbled through The Tibetan Book of the Dead, watched her face light up when her loved ones came by, and sat silently in her room learning how to be ready for anything.

I don’t know if it was the morphine, or her lifelong studies of the transitions between worlds, but Rosalía had some interesting things to say during those 12 days. Sitting next to her bed one afternoon, she drifted off but when she came back, she said excitedly:

I just died!
You did?
Yeah!
What was it like?
It’s open. So open.
The other side? I asked.
Yeah! I am opening still.

With Rosa, time was out of time, the love intensified, and writing about it was one more of our creative projects together. I posted every day so her friends and family could feel close to her, and when she passed, they asked me to put it all in one place, hence this “bookita,” our last project together. Dying is another part of living, and grieving, too. I hope that these stories and remembrances are of service to you.