This week marks one year since Ale’s passing, the anniversary I never wanted to face, at least not so soon. Nearly 800 million precious moments have passed since our paths first crossed, moving in fast-forward. In contrast, this past year has dragged in slow motion, each moment cutting through me like a knife, reminding me of how fragile life truly is.

She left on February 26 at noon,her favorite time of day, il mezzogiorno italiano, when she would sit down for a meal. After nearly a year of battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, enduring chemotherapy cycles that never truly worked, a major surgery, and a cutting-edge clinical trial she was lucky to be selected for, where she placed all her last hopes, even as her body was already paying the toll of the disease and chemo, her body could fight no longer.