A Family Reunion

Maria Christina never fully recovered from her daughter's sudden death six years ago. She was just 42 when she collapsed on her bathroom floor. She had just moved into a new house with her husband and the daughter they waited so long to arrive. If only the adoption had happened sooner. Baby Jennifer would have known what it was really like to have a mother.

Barely two years after that tragedy, Maria Christina's husband Edward who had been healthy as a horse for most of his 76 years passed away peacefully in their empty nest.

Soon after they buried her beloved, all of Maria Christina's days turned into nights and as the days passed, the darkness thickened the minute hand of time, drawing out the hours of her painful losses in utter and unshakeable misery. Two more years of living in complete blackness didn't bring them back. It took precious more from Christina.

This time, it was her son Joseph. He went into the hospital with a high fever and never came out. His heart stopped, just like that. She knew it was bad news when her phone rang at 2:20 AM. She was already up.

After they buried her son, she starting checking out herself. She barely got out of bed and hardly ever went out. If the phone rang, she didn't answer it. If the doorbell rang, she hid. As the dishes and bills and laundry piled up, Maria Christina only cared about bringing fresh flowers to the graves of her loved ones. On her next visit to the cemetery, she planned to check herself into the hospital and wait for the only cure that could save her.

Two weeks later, she paid for a private room in the hospital and for the first time in years, she slept peacefully through the night.

Maria Christina was diagnosed with cancer and refused treatment. A year later, she was finally reunited with her family.