Naya’s Impact
Today they found Naya Rivera. You may have seen it on the news, you may not. While I watched a few seasons of Glee I wasn’t necessarily a super fan. In fact, when the news of her disappearance first broke I had to look up her picture to know who they were referencing. So this isn’t one of those deaths that hit me hard in the way they do when you lose an idol. Despite this being a celebrity death, the “celebrity” of Naya is not what sticks with me, but rather her humanity.
This one’s been tough for me. She was missing, presumed drowned, for about 5 days. Almost every time I have seen her picture pop up on Twitter it’s either as her character, Santana in Glee, or in her real life it’s almost always with her son. She really seemed to love being a mother. Her son is 4 years old and was boating with her when she disappeared. In fact, when they found the boat, he was curled up in a towel fast asleep, alone. It’s been hard seeing the love between the two as she was missing but today rocked me to the core.
Authorities had given limited information, but today when they confirmed that her remains had been found, they shared the son’s account. He felt his mother push him up onto the boat, and when he looked at the water she wasn’t there any more. With her last bit of strength, literally her last breath, she took care of him, she saved him.
It’s gone over and over in my head how it would feel to know Kai was in danger. A mother’s instincts are strong, and her desire to protect her child even stronger. I never would have understood it a year ago.
But today I understand it too well, too deeply. I held my son from the moment I got home to the moment I put him to bed. Either a life I live without him or a life he lives without me is too painful to imagine. We were created for each other. I was made to raise him, he was made to grow with me. Any reality that has a child and mother separating too early is a tragedy. I don’t have a real conclusion to this. I just know that long past when this “story” fades from the news coverage, the grief that her family will be feeling will be as strong as ever. I just hope the lesson to appreciate today stays tattooed on my mind as well.