The Day of the Dead.....

I've been feeling a need to find other "communities" to share time with as I see winter coming. When we lived in Bay View we belonged to the Unitarian Universalist Church on the east side......and on Sundays I've been feeling a need to maybe reconnect with a congregation. This continuing pandemic doesn't make it easy to do this. But the UU Church in Mequon has on-line services so I've zoomed in for three weeks just to listen and to get my brain to ponder something outside "myself". 

This morning the sermon followed a video of people celebrating the Day of the Dead in Mexico. I was slightly familiar with the holiday but the short Youtube video documentary that started the hour was fascinating. The minister's remarks were also thoughtful and made me think about the people I love who are no longer with me. The minister said that Day of the Dead celebrations involve families taking food to the cemeteries and sharing a meal while sitting at the side of their loved one's grave. They leave small amounts of favorite foods behind on the tombstones. He told a short story about an American asking "How long do you think it will be until they come back to eat the food?" The response was something like "About the same amount of time until your loved one comes back to smell the flowers you left at their grave." It's just a different tradition....and a way of remembering good times past.

I sat in front of the computer screen and wondered about why the service seemed to touch a cord for me today. And then I remembered.  My mom and my mother-in-law both died about ten years ago, each on the night of a full moon....and last night was a rare blue moon. The second full moon this month.

Whenever I walk outside and glance up to see a full moon I immediately think of both of them....I guess this month I had two chances to celebrate the day of my dead.