Yvette, Mimi, Alex, Josie, Vilma and TOE

All Nuyorcians.

Yvette and Josie escaped into love. They looked for princes among the projects and found their love in motherhood, one with seven and the other with five. Mimi found her love in the arms of femmes and in her work to save baby butches from the streets.  Alex found love in doing God’s work among the men and women healing from churches who told them they were not worthy of God’s love. Vilma found love through a journry of adultery, homelessness and violence but at long last she found her prince and the joy of bringing a new life out of the love. Without realizing her daughter’s initials spelled out TOE so she was known by her family as “our little TOE.”

TOE became sick and four months from the day she took her first breath in Vilma’s arms she took her last.  Vilma, also sick but didn’t know it would follow TOE a couple of years later. Yvette’s lungs couldn’t match her heart; couldn’t fight the pollution of her neighborhood; couldn’t fight that last asthma attack. Alex gave so much of his heart to help others heal that his heart decided to rest one night forever. Mimi died in the arms of a femme, weary but satisfied that one of her baby butches made good. Josie, never letting something as little as a virus stop her from taking names and kicking ass, decided she had set everything right and at 3:55pm today, she went home.

Maribelle aka Mikey. A Nuyorican. A big sister for 30 years. An aunt for only four months. A baby butch mentee at the age of 17. A thirtysomething Christian who found a man who told her that God loved her lesbian self. A friend to two women since adolescence who loved her for who she was and were proud to have her around their kids; one with five and one with seven.

Mikey, Vilma, Josie, Yvette, Alex, Mimi and TOE. Nuyoricans proud of their Puerto Rican, proud to call the city of New York their home. Battle scarred from the fights against every injustice sent their way. Veterans called home when their work was done.

Pa’lante! Presente! Keep the salsa playing and the party going till we meet again.