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With the tragedy in Surfside, I could not stop thinking of the word “someone.” So many someones who were lost. I thought of how these people were doing normal things all day long that day and as I read the tributes to those who have been discovered and are still missing, I pooled the things that were said about these dear people to write this essay. 

On the day before the building came crashing down with hell’s fury in the deep of night, it was a day like any other–a day someone did what someone does when mercifully unaware that someone’s end is near.

Someone talked to friends. Cassie Billedeau-Stratton talked to her husband from the fourth floor. Michael Altman talked to his son. Anastasia Gromova talked to her mother. “I love you,” she told her. Someone talked to a brother, a sister, an uncle the day before the building came crashing down. 

Someone watched the sunset on the watery horizon and sighed a prayer to God. Magaly Elena Delgado gazed at the ocean she had dreamed of living near, breathing in its salty air for the last time. 

Someone played cards. Someone shopped online. Someone finished a book while someone else started one. Someone wrote a letter. 

Someone read the Torah. Someone read the Bible. Someone read the Koran. Hilda Noriega clutched the Rosary as the building came crashing down.

Someone cooked Ropa Vieja, someone ate Gallo Pinto, and someone swallowed the last spoonful of Sopa Paraguaya. Someone fed their children Dulce de Leche and someone braided an exquisite Challah loaf as she had so many times before. 

A world of smells wafted from kitchens the day before the building came crashing down.  

Someone was the world to her family. 

Someone helped a neighbor. Someone said good morning and someone said good night. Antonio and Gladys Lozano had dinner with their son and kissed him goodbye, not knowing it would be their last before the building came crashing down.

Someone teased his wife. Someone argued. Someone made up. Someone hugged his loved ones tightly. Someone made love. 

Someone paid bills while someone fried an egg. Someone folded laundry. Someone shined the windows that would shatter into a million pieces when the building came crashing down.

Someone waited for test results. Someone hoped for a miracle. Ilan Naibryf and Deborah Berezdivin attended a friend’s funeral the day before the building came crashing down. 

Someone watched her wedding video. Ruslan Manashirov and Nicole Doran-Manashirov wrote thank you notes that would never be sent. Gladys and Antonio Lozano planned their 59th anniversary party. Someone longed for her late husband the day before the building came crashing down.

Someone beamed with pride because of her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren. Judy Spiegel ordered a dress for her granddaughter while someone looked forward to his first grandchild. 

Someone rocked a baby, inhaling the sweet smell of freshly washed hair. Aishani Gia Patel crawled across a solid floor that would disappear beneath her. Her parents chose a name for their unborn baby for a lifetime that was not to be. Someone kissed a child goodnight the day before the building came crashing down.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I ‘wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Someone slept soundly. Someone tossed and turned. 

Someone heard creaking noises the day before the building came crashing down.

Someone felt the building sway.

Someone saw a crack opening up.

Someone felt the wind.

Someone–

Sources: https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/06/28/stories-of-surfside-condo-victims-identified-life-of-the-party/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/us/miami-building-collapse-victims-missing/index.html

https://abcnews.go.com/US/victims-surfside-condo-collapse/story?id=78517075