One of my jobs at the school I work for is to edit the letters of recommendation teachers write to help students gain entrance into some of the best colleges in the country. I do about 800 of them a year. This year, I should be reading a few written for Sophia, as she was a high school senior dreaming of college. But it struck me a few days ago that nobody will ever write or read a recommendation letter for Sophia. . .so I would like to make this her rec letter. This is my recommendation for Sophia to be admitted to the Seraphim, the highest order of angels, the Ivy League of Angels if you will.
Dear Seraphim Selection Committee:
I write this letter of recommendation for Anne Sophia Hurtado, Heaven - Class of 2020. Having taught well over 2000 students, and being Sophia's English 1 teacher and mother, I can tell you that you will never meet a better heavenly candidate; Sophia was loyal, brave, and flat out the funniest person I have ever encountered.
Sophia will illuminate your band of Angels with her wicked sense of humor as she brightened every room she walked into. She had the best comedic timing of anyone I know. Whether it was posing with auntie Cathy’s bra for a laugh or helping prank me by calling and convincing me her airboat ride was stranded out in the middle of the Everglades, Sophia was always up for a good joke. As she matured, so did her comedic abilities. During her illness, she had a great sense of comedic relief. . . always able to attenuate the bad news with a quick witty remark. One example of how she had me laughing out loud was when she told me, her mom, about how she and her friends took a purity test and how she would have earned a 100%, but she lied on a few things to make it sound like she knew what they were talking about. Who cheats on a purity test??
I think it should be clear to you, as it is to me, that Sophia would make an excellent angel because she was the bravest girl anyone ever met. And when I say brave, I do not mean just physically brave, like when she followed her dad out into Hurricane Wilma to investigate a large crashing sound. I am talking about a remarkable moral fortitude. It is not that Sophia marched to the beat of a different drum, she was the DRUMMER. She made everyone around her a better person. Here, I could give you a million anecdotes about Sophia's strength throughout her illness, or the perseverance she had in teaching herself to walk again during quarantine. But instead, I would like to quote from a text message sent to my sister Ginny by Sophia's hospice daytime nurse. Now ViVi, or Nurse Ratchet as she was affectionately called by Ginny, was over 80 years old and had been working as a hospice nurse for quite some time, and she witnessed not only the pain Sophia endured but also the joy Sophia took in her at-home graduation, her new Make a Wish room, and visits from her friends. Nurse Rachet writes: "we [hospice] nurses thought we knew everything about death & dying until we met Sophia ... I’ve learned courage is NOT having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don’t have the strength, and Sophia did just that ... but she was tired. . . tired of the pain, tired of medication, tired of seeing her Mom with a heartache...so she rested...she closed her eyes and went to be with the lord, and now she is resting in the arms of our Lord." And though I am so proud of my girl and the battles she fought, I am going to try to remember more, the courage she displayed throughout her entire life. Her bravery to stand up for herself in the face of a rich, athletic bully with a famous daddy; the courage she showed when she continued to put on that uniform and cheer, knowing some laughed at her weight-gain, which we later learned was due to her disease, and that they thought she was too big to be a cheerleader. And of course, the valor she showed as she battled her two most harrowing opponents, cancer and time. . . to quote Shakespeare, “though she be but little, she is fierce.” Juan and I raised a true warrior, a badass.
To continue: heavenly admissions committee, I think the trait that most makes Sophia a perfect candidate for your highest hierarchy of angels is her loyalty. Whether it was her ever-watchful eye on Sebastian to make sure he was sticking up for himself, and if he weren’t, she would do it for him, or her willingness to sit with a new-to-the-school student at lunch because she didn’t want that student to feel left out, Sophia could always be counted on to help out a friend...and she saw almost everyone as a friend. I had more than one mother and guidance counselor ask me if I could get Sophia to sit with their shy kid at lunch because they knew Sophia could make anyone feel special. I like to say that Sophia had tribes...or actually that she had many interlocking families. She had what I respectfully called her tribe of crones, not witchy crones, but a group of very wise women. . . teachers, coaches, and administrators from the school, as well as doctors and nurses from her various clinics and hospitals, who absolutely adored Sophia and who received in return for their knowledge and the faith they had in Sophia an eager and respectful student ready and willing to receive their astute lessons. Then she had her theater kids, her cheer girls, the lacrosse and soccer girls (who are a bit intense for most tastes), and her honors classes friends, her academy friends, her maintenance workers and cafeteria staff friends, her blogging friends. . . she was a friend to all. I think my sister said it best. She said, “Mame, don’t take is the wrong way, but Sophia reminds me of a dog”. . . I started to take it the wrong way, but she continued, “she is just 100% pure, unconditional love.”
So, in closing, please accept this proud mother’s letter of recommendation on behalf of Anne Sophia Hurtado. I am sure she will enrich your order of heaven. Her will is strong and her spirit radiant. It was my greatest privilege and honor to be her mother and call her my best friend.