Krystal Gonzalez prays everyday, normally while on a walk in nature. Sometimes her daughter or another one of her three surviving children will walk alongside her. Other times Krystal is alone with God and the memory of Aaliyah.
When she lost her daughter, Gonzalez began to study how other cultures handle death.
“In Indian culture, there was a tradition that when a person dies in the family, not just the household, but in the family, each person moves a piece of furniture,” Gonzalez says, “When they wake up in the morning, there’s this visual representation that everything has changed. Because everything has changed.”
Gonzalez insists on meeting at a busy Starbucks near the BWI-Marshall airport. It’s where Aaliyah worked, perfecting the latest caffeinated concoctions as she counted down the days to when she would start class at Anne Arundel Community College.
“She comes home… all jittery and stuff. And she’s like, ‘Mom, but I had nitro and I had a shot of this…’ and I’m like, ‘Well, maybe first of all, nitro doesn’t sound like something you should be drinking!’” Gonzalez remembers as a smile pulls at her lips.
