My beloved aunt Gloria died last Saturday, on the Fourth of July. She was 81. Another victim of cancer.
Last August, not long after she started chemotherapy, I took the train to Brooklyn to visit her and my uncle. It had been years since we had seen each other. I brought her a bowl of fruit candies in a heart-shaped bowl—“something sweet to enjoy,” I told her.
During my afternoon visit, despite my protests, she took some tamales from the freezer and cooked them for me, along with rice. Ever since I was a kid, feeding me had always brought her joy, so I ate the tamales, the rice, and the dessert she served. (I was so full, I canceled my dinner reservations afterward.)
There we sat in the dining room, the same one from my childhood. We laughed out loud, recalling stories from when my cousins and I were kids in the neighborhood, when our fathers worked at the bodega, when the future was unimaginable.
We briefly acknowledged the elephant in the room, then pushed it aside.
When it was time to leave, I hugged and kissed my aunt Gloria and told her to keep battling. She was a beautiful woman, a strong woman, and a woman of deep faith. That faith, together with the love and support of her family, gave her the strength and courage to fight this cancer.
Over the months that followed, she would text me photos of herself in the hospital whenever she went in for chemotherapy. In every photo, she wore a big smile. We exchanged short messages of love.
Then the photos stopped coming, and she silenced her phone.
I’ll be driving to Brooklyn on Monday for her funeral Mass and burial. My aunt Gloria was one of the matriarchs of our immigrant family — she from Puerto Rico, the others from Cuba. Those of us born in this country owe so much of what we have — our education, our freedom, our opportunities — to the love and sacrifices of their generation. We thank them for making our futures imaginable.
Gracias, Tía, por tu amor, tu música, tu baile y tu alegría. Que en paz descanses.
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Here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:
- Tanker traffic through Strait of Hormuz slows after Iranian attacks trigger renewed fighting with U.S. (CNBC)
- U.S. Trade Deficit Widened in May as Imports of AI Components Rose (WSJ – sub. cont’d)
- Cargo Theft Report Finds Fraud Replacing Force in Supply Chains (SupplyChain247)
- Descartes Acquires Drivin
- EPA proposes to loosen requirements for truck pollution controls (The Hill)
- IBM Advances Enterprise AI Software Development with Multi-Agent Capabilities and Specialized Modernization Workflows
- Appeals Court Upholds FMC’s Authority to Strike Down Unreasonable Container Detention Fees (gCaptain)
- A Trucking Startup Aims to Challenge Tesla. Now, Paychecks Are Missing—and So Is a Truck. (WSJ – sub. cont’d)
- The Quest to Make Humanoid Robots Safe Enough for Humans (WSJ – sub. cont’d)
I’m out of time this morning, so I’ll share my commentary next week.
Have a meaningful weekend!
Song of the Week: “Until She Comes” by The Psychedelic Furs
