When It’s Time for Goodbyes

It’s never easy to let someone go…to say goodbye…and be on your own. We are never prepared for departures—needless to say, a permanent one at that. No matter how much you know that it’s going to be the end, or when someone says it’s gonna be okay if it ever ends…still, watching people go remains to be heartbreaking. It’s like watching someone walk away with their backs on you, and you know that you’re never gonna see their faces again…only memories will remain.

Someone once said that it’s not on how people died that we should remember, but on how people lived. Upon watching the movie, My Sister’s Keeper, Anna’s last words before the closing credits bore a significant message to me. She said, “Once upon a time, I thought I was put on earth to save my sister. In the end, I couldn’t do it. I realized now, that wasn’t the point…the point was I had a sister. She was fantastic!” Beginnings and endings are just part of the story…how we were born, or how we’ll ever die is just part of life. What matters is that, we lived.

The movie was about Kate Fitzgerald who was diagnosed with Leukemia…or should I say about Anna Fitzgerald—her sister’s keeper…or maybe both. When Kate was first diagnosed, her doctor advised her parents that she needed a match to save her life. Anna was genetically conceived to be her match. All of Anna’s life, she has been donating her parts to her sister—from the moment she was born, for eleven years. She has been giving Kate her blood, granulocytes, bone marrows, etc. until one day she came to a lawyer and said she no longer wanted to give any of her parts to her sister…even if she knows it could kill Kate. She said, she wanted control over her own body and wanted a “medical emancipation”—or is it really? Anna knew she was born for a reason…and that is to save her sister’s life. I guess all of us were put on earth for a reason too. There are no coincidences, nor accidents in life. Maybe the only difference is that Anna knew it too soon unlike the rest of us.

Kate—she was so young when she learned that her life is on the edge of a cliff. Yet, she battled it through and stayed a little bit longer. She saw her sister grow and Anna watched over her and took care of her. She fell in love with a fellow patient, and felt broken too when he died without saying goodbye after their prom. She’s still alive but dead was lurking over her life…and her family too. Her mom has been taking care of her, staying by her side all the time, and gave up everything to fight the battle with her. I could say the same for her dad, and brother, and sister, and the rest of their family. I wonder what it feels like seeing your family like that—doing everything to make you feel better…to somehow make everything seem normal even if everyone knows it isn’t…or at least make everything okay. Kate has been fighting for her life…but everyone gets tired along the way, including her. But she couldn’t seem to give up—for her mom, for her family.

It was Kate who asked Anna to go to the lawyer. It turned out that she no longer wanted to have any more surgeries. She wanted to free Anna and allow her to live a life outside the shadows of being her sister’s life-saver. That was the last thing she asked from her sister.

Kate died. Her last wish was to see the beach…to be with her family at the beach. It was the moment in the movie wherein you’ll realize how bitterly sweet life could be. She had a wonderful family…she has been given all the love that somehow made her life a little bit longer…and happy…but that’s it. In the end, when your time is up, you have to go. She died with the last person on her side—her mom. They had to let go, and move forward.

Someone once asked, “What will you do today if you know you’re going to die tomorrow?” In Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist he said, “To die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day” so why does the last day be any different from the rest? Make your life count, even when your days are numbered… live each day like it’s your last…because in the end, you’ll never know when it’s time…you’ll never know when it’s the last. Dying is always scary…and the hardest part is leaving the people you love behind...but the best part is, knowing you made a difference in someone else’s life while you’re alive. 

My Sister's Keeper is a 2009 American drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes. Based on Jodi Picoult's novel.

Film released on June 26, 2009.

Cast:

Cameron Diaz as Sara Fitzgerald

Alec Baldwin as Campbell Alexander

Abigail Breslin as Anna Fitzgerald

Sofia Vassilieva as Kate Fitzgerald

Jason Patric as Brian Fitzgerald

Evan Ellingson as Jesse Fitzgerald

Heather Wahlquist as Aunt Kelly

Luke Wilson as Edward Alexander

Elizabeth Daily as Nurse Susan

Lin Shaye as Nurse Adele

Joan Cusack as Judge De Salvo

Thomas Dekker as Taylor Ambrose

Jeffrey Markle as Dr. Wayne

Emily Deschanel as Dr. Farquad

Amit Khanduja as Chief Surgeon

Olivia Hancock as Young Kate Fitzgerald