Meet Lupita: The Heart of it All
If this story has a center, it’s Lupita. Steady, sweet, and stronger than she lets on.
She’s the kind of person who shows up early, stays late, and somehow always knows when someone needs a quiet word or a little push.
Her English is broken, her Spanish fluent, and her words don’t always come easily to everyone around her, but somehow, she’s understood all the same. With Lupita, it’s not just about what she says. It’s the way she presses your hand when you’re nervous, or winks when the room feels too heavy. You might not always catch exactly what she says, but you’ll always feel what she means.
And beneath all that warmth is a quiet steel. Lupita has weathered more than most—more than she ever speaks aloud—but she carries it with grace and grit. Her losses have shaped her, but they haven’t hardened her. Somehow, they’ve only made her more determined to care for others, to keep showing up, to keep loving.
Lupita isn’t perfect, but she reminds everyone what matters most. She is quite simply, the heart of it all.
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If this were a movie and I got to pick the cast: Ivonne Coll would play Lupita.
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This is just one of the people you’ll meet in my upcoming novel, a story about found family and second chances. Come back next week to meet someone new!
I’m still editing and shaping this story, working to bring it into the world. But if you’d like updates, sneak peeks, and behind-the-scenes notes along the way, join my newsletter!
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“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”
