Santo Domingo.
The memory of former baseball player Octavio Dotel lives on in everyday details, such as the choice of a coffee, according to Massiel Javier de Dotel, his wife. “I choose the one he liked. Not out of routine, but out of memory. Out of love,” she confesses, showing how love endures despite absence.
This Thursday marks one month since the tragic explosion at the Jet Set nightclub, where 233 people lost their lives, including the former player. Dotel left a significant legacy in baseball and at home as a husband and father.
In her first public statements after the loss, Massiel Javier de Dotel shared details about her life with Dotel and the family they built, consisting of three children.
It has been 30 extremely difficult days. Not only for me, but for the whole family. Sudden deaths have that particularity: you cannot prepare for that
Massiel Javier de Dotel
Dotel left three children: a teenager who turned 15 without his father last week, a 13-year-old girl, and a five-year-old boy. Massiel describes Octavio as a present, fun father and a friend to his children.
Massiel acknowledges that the absence of her husband has been a challenge. “I have never been a person who likes to be among groups. I did everything with him. If I went on a trip, it was with him. He was my accomplice for everything. The most difficult thing will be to do the things we liked to do together, now without him,” she lamented.
To face this grief, Massiel has sought professional help for herself and her children.
The family keeps Octavio’s memory alive in their day-to-day lives. “If we do anything, we say: ‘daddy liked this’, or ‘let’s eat this because daddy loved it’. That’s our way of ensuring he never dies in our daily lives,” she explained.
Massiel concludes with a reflection on grief and hope. “Pain and sadness will always be there. Not denying the pain is part of the grieving process. You have to live it to be able to heal. It will never go away, but I know that with time we will remember it without being sad. Quite the opposite: remember it happily.”
