A Story About Luis Fernando Quesada: Immigrant, Hard Worker, Husband, Father, & Abuelo

My dad loved my kids before I did. I know that first sentence sounds weird, when you give birth to a baby, your heart changes completely to a love that you’ve never experienced before — but it’s the truth, my dad loved my boys before I did.

Let me tell you a story … I have two boys, Nicolas and Oliver. When I told my dad that I was pregnant with Nicolas, he was very excited and happy. It happened really quick after I got married, but it was a blessing. Nicolas was born and both sets of grandparents were very devoted. His paternal grandparents took care of him while we worked, and my parents saw him on the weekends. We went everywhere. Our favorite thing was going shopping–malls, outlets–my dad especially loved buying things for him.

I would be on the phone with my parents, and I would say something like “I am getting ready to leave the house as I need to buy Nicolas a new backpack.” 30 mins later, I would get a call asking me where I was so they could meet us there. We always got into fights of who was going to put their card out first to pay. Here my dad was, working at a bakery, making $7.50/hour, yet his heart and love for his grandkids was worth more than anything.

Then, in 2014 I was pregnant a second time but my parents were more independent as they were able to finally have a car, so they came over to our house a lot. When Oliver was born, we were at the hospital and like all babies, he looked like a little old man! Strong features. My dad came over to the hospital and I said, “Look dad, he looks like a little wrinkly old man.” He looked at him and said, “he’s perfect.” He took him from my arms and just stared at his face. He said, “look at his nose, it’s perfect,” “look at his ears and hands, he’s perfect.” He would then caress his face, touch every feature with his big fingers, and just stare, his smile was from ear to ear. And that moment I realized that my dad loved my boys before I did.

When my dad finally retired from working, he and my mom decided to move to Costa Rica to live in a little house they owned. They stayed with us for two weeks. I wanted to take them to the airport for our last goodbye for a while. Oliver, now 6, was very close to his “abuelo” (or grandpa). One day, they were sitting together in our living room (Oliver was ALWAYS on top of my dad, my poor dad was a jungle gym every time he came to visit us). In a moment of quietness, my dad said to my mom “this kid can win anyone,” meaning that he knew this little 6-year-old would win the hearts of everyone he met, just like he won the heart of my mom and dad. Once again showing me, the absolute love, the unconditional love, that he had for them.

He died 10 days after he arrived in Costa Rica and 4 days after his positive Covid diagnosis. He was alone in a hospital bed.

For now, I will spend my days making sure his name is known, that his legacy continues, that I, in his honor, help as many as I can to avoid going through what my family has gone through. His death matters, and as so, I volunteered to help seniors like him get vaccinated, I see him in them, and although I can’t get him back, I can absolutely make sure to let everyone know that Luis Fernando Quesada, an immigrant from Costa Rica, raised a strong daughter.

And then one day, in the not-so-distant future, when the boys are old enough, I will tell them the stories of the abuelo that loved them before their mom did.