Day of the Dead, New Beginnings

Yesterday was Halloween, and soon we'll be in the season of gratitude and Thanksgiving. Right now, some Latino cultures are in the midst of celebrations for La Dia de los Muertos. Day of the Dead.

Though there are many different aspects to this beautifully vibrant festival, at heart is the remembrance of those who have passed into a realm beyond us. So we celebrate their lives and our love with flowers, food and brilliant colors. In altars, murals and crafts decorated with and by skeletons, candles and dolls, bright candy and symbolic breads, the living are reminded of those who have left us, and also that life is precious, amazing and sometimes unfair. I am 'of an age' when death seems closer. Hovering near forty, I am not yet old, but cancer and other issues are more prevalent among friends and family, my generation and the one before. All of my grandparents are gone.

Still, I have dealt with the death of close friends since I was 21, and it is these people I remember most poignantly on occasions such as these. The ones whose lives held such promise and opportunity, yet were taken from us before what seems to have been their time.

I still miss them, but they did give me a great gift, a gift I too often forget. Life can be way too short, and each moment we don't live our dreams is one wasted.

So today, I recommit myself to this blog and my own dreams. I am doing nano this month (nanowrimo.org) and making a point to be more mindful of what life it is I want to live. My dream life is to be able to support myself and my family as a writer.

What is yours?

It may be the day after Halloween, the first day of November - not exactly New Year's or a birthday (at least for me), or any other traditional day to renew one's self-promises. Yet today that's what I'm doing. Let me know if you want a star card for yourself and I'll send you one - I've already put a few out there that I await with loving anticipation.

What better time to rededicate ourselves to lives well lived than on a day we celebrate those whom we love and have lost?

Honor them ~ Follow your dreams.

Namaste.




(image is a magnet available at quotelady.com)