Dia de Muertos

Just such an alter here in Puerto Vallarta


Last year around this time I was visiting my grandchildren in Nelson.  My mother had just passed away and I was rather shocked when I walked into their family room to find a bit of an alter and my mother's picture smiling up at me. There was her photo along with one of dad and Stephanie's father along with other family members that had passed, surrounded by candles and flowers.

This fellow is about three stories high!
It took me by surprise. As I gazed upon the picture of my smiling parents, Abby came up beside me, grabbed my hand quite happily, laughed and said "don't be sad grandma.. she is in the 'Land of the Remembered', and then skipped off to play with her sister.

"The Land of the Remembered?" I asked my son.




And together as a family we watched the movie "The Book of Life".

My immediate family are not so good at dealing with death.

We had lost a sister when we were quite young, and weren't allowed to talk about it, so I guess it shouldn't be a big surprise.  Losing our parents has further separated us, instead of bringing us together as I had thought that it would.  Sadly, this happens in a lot of families.  However, it has made me even be more amazed by the strength of the rest of my family, and so many of my friends. Death is not something that happens to just some of us, it affects everyone.  It is a part life and can tear you apart, or, it can bring you together. As with everything else, it is what you make it.

I am always amazed by the way all my grandchildren are being raised.  They are constantly teaching me so much about life.  I am delighted at how Travis and Stephanie are preparing their children for so much that life throws at us: including its inevitable end.

As we sat together and talked about those we remembered, telling stories and remembering together,  I could feel the presence of the remembered.. and they were happy.

The Day of the Dead here in Mexico is a vibrant, loud, happy, week long event.  There are alters out all over town, just like the one my grand kids made, only even bigger and brighter.  People celebrate those they have loved and lost.  We all have bones and we all die: why not make it a party?!



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