Passing of Rafael Acosta Filobello

After 8 months of receiving medical updates about my dad.

After 8 months of trying to remember the name of the nicest nurses. 

After 8 months of waiting, my dad is liberated.

Rafael, my dad, is my best friend. After sustaining his brain injury, his body endured many complications. Although our bodies are engineered to fight off infections and diseases, those weren’t what alarmed me most. I worried about the spirit that represented my dad.  His way of communicating to the world  was using this body, but I haven’t heard him say a word. 

Before his accident,
he was this Bigger-than-life  character animated into a prudent human being. His thoughts always left others with more questions than answers.  He enjoyed the nuances of being a human, but his real interest grew with the origin of our species. He ruminated with thoughts about extra terrestrials and studied theology closely. 

As a unit, we were nerds. 

Our rendezvous was the movie theaters. As soon as a trailer came out about anything concerning ‘aliens, pre-historic times, or ‘SCI-FI’, our mission was to find cheap movie tickets and a cheap small bag of lightly salted popcorn. A dash of butter, which I didn’t really enjoy, but I had gummies.

Parking in NYC was our adult chore, but everytime, somehow a conversation about Mexico would come up. Till this day it’s still hard for 
me to believe a 48-year old could remember when he was 4 years old. He wasn’t fooling anyone. 

Our bond is a testament on what trust can reveal about a person. That once you exchange values with another and they admire them, they themselves become a safe haven. 

He also upset me. I have many of those moments too, but they were nice. It gave me something to argue about. Anything we both agreed on, we would sit in silence. 

His world was built on struggle, perseverance and insecurity. Losing his father at 5 years old, his sister around the same time and growing up in a small impoverished town in Mexico, he was immediately at a disadvantage. However, that struggle lead him to persevere and mold my family in the best known city in the world.

Nonetheless, a lot of unexpressed emotions and uncalled for illnesses in the family, bottled him up. His fears would be reflected by his attitude and soon, onto our family. The macho demeanor he displayed masked what he felt. “Solid and straightforward”, he would tell me.
Crying stupefied him.

Undoubtedly, he was authentic. Crystallizing his values, watching educational documentaries, yelling when talking to friends , the foot slam dance and telling me to go to bed. 

Working about 300 days a year to have a 2 week vacation with us; Me, Sam, Mom and Lilly.

If you don’t know him, think about your dad, your best friend, your unbreakable bonds. 

This money is being for any expense necessary to facilitate his funeral.

Thank you.