The Painting I Finished Just in Time

A gift created in obedience… and received just in time.

There are moments in life that do not feel random.

Moments that arrive with a kind of urgency…

a quiet insistence that does not come from you.

This painting came from one of those moments.

Mami Carmin was my mother-in-law.

She loved me and she loved my art.

And one day, she said with longing and hope:

“I’d love to have one of your paintings in my home.”

Time passed.

Almost a year went by… and I didn’t paint at all.

Then she became very ill.

She was a nurse who lived with diabetes.

And like many who feel they understand their condition… she believed she could manage it her own way.

But this time, it went too far.

Her sugar levels reached 1,000.

She was hospitalised.

And that is when it happened.

A voice.

Not something I heard with my ears…

but something I felt clearly, deeply, inside my heart.

“Do the painting she asked for.

And receive her with your gift when she comes back home.”

I knew exactly what it meant.

For three days, I painted.

I barely slept.

My back was in pain, my legs went numb…

but I kept going.

Every dot, every color, every detail… I offered it to God, for her.

When she returned home from the hospital early that morning…

the painting was already there, hung on the dining room wall, waiting for her.

She loved it.

She brought a rocking chair and placed it right in front of it,

and sat there most of the day… contemplating it, singing her favourite song, “De Colores.”

The next morning, we went out together to get our nails done. We didn’t do that often, only on special occasions. Her son and I were planning to celebrate our birthday together.

In the car, we were talking about Heaven and she said something I will never forget:

“It takes more than just being good to go to Heaven… so much more.”

We came back home, and once again,

she sat in front of the painting for hours… taking it in.

Later that day, she cooked a huge pot of chicken and potato stew with rice.

The biggest pot you can imagine.

I asked her, “Mami Carmin, are we expecting company?”

She smiled and said,

“You never know… and if no one comes, you save it for later or tomorrow. Nothing goes to waste.”

She told me again how much she loved the painting.

How she could be staring at it all day, every day.

How she wasn’t expecting something so beautiful to be painted just for her.

Then she went to lie down on the hammock.

And that’s when everything changed.

I heard her.

A sound that didn’t feel right.

I went to her and asked if she was okay.

She said softly,

“I just have a bit of chest pain… it’s okay.”

And then… that same voice returned.

Clear. Firm.

Wake her son.

She asked me not to disturb him.

But I did it anyway.

Because this time… I felt I could not hesitate.

He called the ambulance and then his sister.

She got home with her son when the ambulance was settling her in. She left him with me so she could travel in the ambulance with Mami Carmin.

And she passed away… on the way, being held by her daughter who prayed every second she was with her…

She passed with her nails freshly done.

Just the way she liked them.

Simple things…

that meant everything to her.

The painting…

the one she had asked for

the one I had delayed

the one I was told to complete

was placed beside her coffin.

And her favorite song “De Colores”, was sung.

And that pot of food she made…

It fed us.

Right after her adding, we couldn’t think of cooking.

We couldn’t think of anything.

But she already had.

It fed us for almost an entire week.

It fed those who came to pay their respects too.

Her last meal… became something that carried us through the first days without her.

She had the painting.

She saw it.

She felt it.

Just in time.

This original painting is not for sale.

It remains with my family.

But over time… I felt something.

That what this piece carries

should not remain hidden.

Because it is not just a painting.

It is love, given in time.

It is obedience.

It is care, even in the smallest things.

It is a goodbye that was allowed to be complete.

And so, I made it available in a different way.

Not to replace the original.

Nothing ever could.

But so that what it holds…

can live beyond that moment.

If this story speaks to you,

you can find it now as prints and pieces in my shop.

Available as posters and mugs, and upon request, on tote bags, framed canvas, puzzles, and more.

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Because some things are not meant to stay in one place.

They are meant to be shared.

With love,

Marie Alexandra Báez Vilá