For James Alvarez, everything changed when his wife, Yesenia Aguilar, died. She was around 35 weeks pregnant and taking a walk when she was struck by an alleged drunk driver. She never got to meet her daughter, who managed to be successfully born after the accident.
The incident happened so quickly. "We were on our evening walk and she was like, 'So, do you think single or double rods would work better?'" James told Today. "By the time we saw the car coming towards us, it was too late. I remember looking at my wife laying there and thinking 'This is a nightmare. Let me wake up. Please let me wake up now.'"
Unfortunately, Yesenia didn't make it.
That day was emotional for James for many reasons. While he was shaken that his wife didn't recover from her injuries, he also welcomed baby Adalyn Rose, who was delivered via an emergency C-section shortly afterward. Within just a few moments, his life changed forever.
Right before the accident, James had shared some of his wife's beautiful maternity photos with friends and family. Even in the captions, it was obvious he was in love and over the moon regarding starting his family.
"I have everything I ever wanted so what else could I ask for," he had captioned one photo. "Thank God everyday for blessing me and my wife. And to my wife, for being amazing."
Baby Adalyn also suffered from some complications after being born. But she had her loving father by her side the entire time.
"My wife was taken so fast," James wrote. "I lost my world in one second. We lost a daughter, a mother, a cast member, a friend, a best friend, and a wife. We are still devastated and truly hard to believe she’s gone. We have our daughter that is fighting for her life just like her mother did."
With time, Adalyn was able to breathe on her own, and James was able to take her home and navigate through life as a widower and single father. It's been quite a year for James, but he found the perfect way to celebrate Adalyn's first birthday — and that was to pay tribute to Yesenia by taking photos that complement their initial shoot.
In the photos, James dressed similarly and stood in the same spot he did just about a year prior. "We had Adalyn dress up in a pink dress has her mommy did and took pictures at the same location where we did our maternity shoot," he said on Instagram. While it was a touching way to show appreciation, it also helped James reflect on the amount of change that had occurred.
"It's been a tough journey but I did it with my head held high," he admitted. "I try to be the best father I could be for my daughter. I want to make my wife proud.
Adalyn, I know if your mommy was here, she would have been the happiest person alive." He knew that she'd be so excited to celebrate such a big milestone with her baby girl.
James really went all out to recreate the photos to the best of his ability. Baby Adalyn is posed just like her mom and seems so happy in every shot. While she never got to meet her mother, she'll at least be able to look back at this experience that the two of them both shared.
James also handled her first birthday in a sweet and noble way. Adalyn had a party just for her, and James made sure to give a touching and emotional speech to share how much he loves her. Even though he misses his wife, many parts of her still live on in Adalyn.
And that's exactly how James views it, too. In an interview with Good Morning America regarding the brand-new photo shoot, he claimed that "it was just, it kind of like, in a sense, like, she wasn't gone. She was there with me." While Adalyn is her own person, it'll still be interesting to see what personality traits of Yesenia's have been passed down.
He also mentioned that he still holds onto many of Yesenia's keepsakes to one day pass on to his daughter. "When my daughter is old enough to understand, I can show her all those beautiful items, memories, so she can kind of have an idea of who she was really was," he noted.
While the story itself is quite tragic, James has done his best to really make it beautiful. He accepted what life threw at him and is honoring his wife in the best possible way — by raising their daughter without any secrets of what happened to her mom. Yesenia and James were truly soul mates, and Adalyn is quite lucky to be surrounded by so much love.
