Dad, I caught 12 fish and Lulu said we’re going to make a cake tomorrow. A chocolate cake with frosting as blue as the sea,” Diego exclaimed excitedly. Guillermo looked at Lourdes, who was tidying up the toys. There was something about her that I couldn’t define. Maybe it was the way I saw Diego not as a sick child, but simply as Diego, a child who deserved to live every moment to the fullest.

“Mr. Salinas, I need to talk to you,” Lourdes said after Diego fell asleep. They went to the kitchen where Lourdes made a coffee. The house was silent. Only the distant sound of traffic on Presidente Masarik Avenue broke the stillness of the night. “Diego asked me today if he is going to die,” Lourdes said, getting straight to the point.

“I told him that it’s not for me to answer that question, but that he should talk to you about it.” Guillermo felt a lump in his throat. “I don’t know how to talk about it with him. How do you explain to a child that honestly, Lourdes interrupted gently. Children feel when we hide something important from them. Diego is very smart.

You know something isn’t right. And if he’s afraid, maybe. But you may also be relieved to finally understand and make better use of the time you have left. Lourdes replied with words full of experience. personnel. That night Guillermo stayed awake thinking about the conversation. In the morning he made a decision that would change everything.

She went into Diego’s room, who was drawing with Lourdes, and sat on the bed. Diego, do you have any questions for your dad?, Guillermo said with his voice trembling slightly. Diego stopped drawing and looked into his father’s eyes. Dad, I’m going to die. The silence that followed seemed eternal, but William took a deep breath and replied, “Yes, little one, we’re all going to die someday, but you’re going to leave sooner than I’d like.

Diego nodded as if he already knew the answer. I can make a list of the things I want to do before the talk between father and son opened a new chapter in their lives. Diego, with the premature wisdom, which often arises in children facing the impossible, took a colored notebook and began to write his list of dreams with the help of Lourdes.

The list was poignant in its simplicity. Making a giant chocolate cake, watching snow, even if it’s just on TV. Having a puppy for a day, planting a tree, having a birthday party for dad, learning to play a song on the guitar, watching the sunrise, having a picnic in the park, meeting a real superhero, making dad smile again.

William wept when he read the list. The last point he touched in a way he didn’t expect. She hadn’t realized how her sadness had affected Diego, how her own grief was stealing the last precious moments they had together. “Let’s start today,” William said, wiping away tears. “Lourdes, will you help us?” She replied with pleasure, smiling.

The first item on the list became an epic event. Lourdes and Diego spent the whole morning in the kitchen of the house mixing ingredients, making a mess and laughing. Guillermo, who had canceled all the meetings for the day, watched from afar, impressed by how Lourdes managed to turn simple moments into magical memories.

Dad, come help us,” Diego shouted covered in flour from head to toe. Guillermo joined them and for the first time in months the three laughed together as they prepared what Diego called the largest cake in the entire world. It was actually a regular chocolate cake, but for Diego it was perfect. The following days became a succession of small miracles.

They brought a Golden Retriever named Max to spend the day with Diego. Item three on the list. They planted a small jacaranda tree in the garden of the house. Cuillermo even hired an actor dressed as Superman for a surprise visit. Point nu. But it was during the fulfillment of point seven, to see the sunrise.

that something special happened between Guillermo and Lourdes. At 5 a.m. on a Monday in November, the three climbed onto the roof of the house. Diego was wrapped in blankets on his father’s lap, weaker than the week before, but determined to see the first ray of sunlight paint the sky of Mexico City. “Look, it’s already starting,” Diego whispered, pointing to the horizon where a golden line began to appear behind Polanco’s buildings.

Lourdes was sitting next to them, and Guillermo couldn’t help but notice how she looked at Diego with as much love as he did himself. It wasn’t just work for her; she truly wanted that child. Lourdes, Guillermo said softly so as not to wake Diego, who had fallen asleep in her arms as they watched the sunrise.

I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done for him. You don’t have to thank us for anything, she replied, putting an extra blanket over Diego. He teaches me as much as I teach him. What does he teach you? That every day is truly a gift, that love doesn’t take long to be true, and that sometimes caring for someone is the most important thing we can do in life.