If anything happens to me, will you take care of my daughter?
For Mahalia Verna, motherhood came from unimaginable loss.
By Alison Cook
For most women, becoming a mother is something they have time to prepare for — either nine months of pregnancy, or a long waiting period for adopting. But in Mahalia Verna's case, it happened suddenly, unexpectedly, under tragic circumstances.
It all began when Mahalia's father was dying in a Montreal hospital. She reached out to her sister, Gelsy, in Madison, Wisconsin, to tell her she should come to his bedside. But her sister couldn't come. Gelsy was preparing for brain surgery that she hoped would help her migraines. She was scheduled for an MRI. Mahalia remembers thinking, "God forbid anything should happen to Gelsy while my father is passing away."
Two days later, Mahalia received the call that would change her life. Her sister had died in her sleep. And Gelsy's five-year-old daughter, Clara, was orphaned.
Even without yet having seen her sister's will, or knowing her final wishes, Mahalia knew in her heart what was to come. She recalled a conversation she had had with her sister a few years earlier. Gelsy had been going on a trip, leaving behind her young daughter, and was feeling anxious about it. Gelsy asked Mahalia, "If anything happens to me, will you take care of Clara?" And Mahalia had answered, "Yes, of course, don't worry."
One of the first things that went through my mind was, 'I might become a mom.'- Mahalia Verna, on losing her sister
Sure enough, in Gelsy's will, Mahalia was named guardian. For Mahalia, who was about to turn 35, and who was single and working full-time, it would change her life. But she still had a choice. She had other siblings who could raise Clara, if she chose not to. But Mahalia embraced her new role wholeheartedly. And she even took it a step further. She decided that being a guardian was not enough. Clara needed a mother. Mahalia decided to adopt her niece.
"Parents usually have nine months to prepare to welcome a child into their lives. I barely had nine weeks."
So Mahalia suddenly found herself responsible for a five-year-old girl. She needed to find a summer camp for Clara, and a school for the fall.
But thankfully her friends sprang into action and helped her reorganize her home and her life.
As for Clara, when it was explained to her that she would be living with Mahalia she said, "Well, it's a good thing I'm going to live with Auntie Mahalia, because someday she'll get married and she'll give me a brother and a sister."
Mahalia was not convinced about that. As a single mom, she decided to embrace that role, and told herself, "If it's just you and me, kid, that's fine by me."
As it turned out, Mahalia was able to fulfil Clara's wish. A few years later, Mahalia married. Her husband already had a daughter from a previous marriage. And together, Mahalia and her husband had a son.
Nine years after Gelsy's death, Mahalia says there are moments where life feels bittersweet.
"I miss my sister terribly," she says. "And whenever Clara has a milestone, I keep thinking, 'Gelsy should have been here to see this.'"
But Mahalia says Clara looks so much like Gelsy that in a way, Gelsy is still with her.
"I feel that I am taking care of her legacy. I am taking care of her greatest creation: her daughter."
Music in the documentary is by Jahzzar.
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