It's good because they know a thing or two here about accepting and coming to terms with death.
They seem to understand that it's best for everyone to mourn loss fully and to accept that it this pain will be an ongoing part of life. We don't lose someone once, we lose them every time we want to ask their advice, hear their voices or their laughter, be in their arms again...
But, in Mexico, it seems they also know that this world is made for the living. Loving life, and the people who are left behind, is also part of the Mexican philosophy.
During the Dias de los Muertos celebrations they support each other, tell stories of those they've loved and lost. They sing the songs and share the meals beloved by those they celebrate.
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The idea of this season seemed creepy and morbid to me once, but it's so much more beautiful and happy than I would have imagined. Accepting the fact that we, and those we care about, won't always be here is so much more honest than our way of tending to ignore it.
The fact is none of us get out of here alive.
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I so respect and admire all of this, but that all being said...
The bad news is: I have had reason to learn some of these lessons this past year.
In theory, I have all sorts of philosophical 'whys and wherefores' about death, but when it comes down to people I love I'd, of course, just prefer they be back with us.
Two sweet ladies that I knew and loved died in this past year. They left such a big hole in this world.
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In our living room in San Miguel there are two window sills. We used them to create a memorial to these two beautiful ladies. Doing this felt beautiful/horrible/cathartic /wrong/hopeful...and a bunch of other things.
We tried to embrace the healing flow of the local culture. We cried a little, told some stories, then raised a glass to toast the beautiful spirits of these two lovely (tough, talented, loving, fabulous...) ladies.
I was lucky to have them in my life. The time I knew them here in this life was all too brief, but they do live on in my daily life, in small things that remind me of them.
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| Jean Reynolds Prather: Mom, biologist, quilter, dancer, gardener, sweet embracing friend,and wise appreciator of life. I will miss her laugh, her no-nonsense approach to life, and her wry wit most of all. |
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"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."
-Thomas Campbell
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"I don't defend pain. But I do respect its ability to make us stronger and wiser after it stings."
-Micheline Jean Louise
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Barbara Taylor
Mom and life partner extraordinaire,
teacher, bass playing badass mama,
angelic singer of harmonies, beautiful, kind
uplifting woman, and friend to all. ---
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| Barbara Taylor Mom and life partner extraordinaire, teacher, bass playing badass mama, angelic singer of harmonies, beautiful, kind uplifting woman, and friend to all. --- |
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"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."
-From a headstone in Ireland
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"The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity."
-Seneca
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