Dia de los Muertos

Today is Dia de los muertos or Day of the Dead. It is a part of the Mexican culture to honor those who have died. It is a national holiday in Mexico and it has become more popular here as well. You see these altars set up everywhere.

I just received pictures from Joe, one or Maggie's former teachers at Mission High. There is an altar there for the school community and he put up a picture of Maggie and one of Tyre and his mom Nadine, who have all passed away.

It made me so happy to know Maggie is gracing those halls once again.

A Rose by any other name....

Flowers filled this house after Maggie died. We were completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of so many. The colors, the arrangements, the smells and well wishes behind them buoyed our souls in those first difficult weeks.

My lifelong friend Sharon took a slightly different tack. She sent a live rose bush. It arrived in a package from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. I opened the package and looked inside and thought what a great idea. We can plant this and it will be Maggie's rosebush. I didn't know how right I was.

I can't remember now where we were going, but we were just about to leave the house so I decided to leave the rose in the box until Steve could plant it in our backyard. He did so the next morning. Steve returned into the house fighting back the tears that came so easily in those first days. I smiled and asked if it was planted and he didn't really talk, he just handed me the information that came in the box.

The name of this particular rose was "Maggie."

Sharon not only sent a rosebush that we could plant and enjoy and think of Maggie. She found an actual Maggie Rosebush. Here it is planted an ready to take off.

With any luck, it will grow beautiful flowers that look like this:

I loved this idea so much that I copied it. I went to the website and ordered three more Maggie rosebushes. They arrived yesterday. One goes to my Mother for Mother's day (late) and the other two we are taking to Mission High School today to plant in the school's memorial garden. We get a little patch of dirt in the sunny Mission District and I'm sure these flowers will flourish there.  We will put up this plaque to go in the garden too.

This was going to be just a little remembrance, but like everything involving Maggie, it has created a lot of interest. (I am bringing food for 40 and hope its enough.) We will plant the Maggie roses and put the Maggie plaque next to them. It will be all Maggie all the time. 

Same as it ever was....

I know that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, but I'm not sure the impact would have been quite as strong.

Speech

The following is the video of Steve's talk at The Memorial Service for Ambassador Chris Stevens. It's about 12 minutes long. I am posting this more for me than for anyone else but feel free to watch it if you are interested. He really did a wonderful job.

Beautiful memorial

The service for Ambassador Stevens was lovely. His siblings told stories only siblings would know and set a very sweet tone for the event. That definitely made it easier for Steve. He did a great job with his talk.

We were in the front row along the side, which was great. I took pictures up close and personal.

But I didn't have the vantage point to get the majesty of City Hall. My Niece Colleen Toomey was in the back and took the first one and my brother in law, Pete Degolia, who was also a fraternity brother of the Ambassador, took the second one from the balcony. It was such a beautiful setting and perfectly fitting for Chris.

 

I was extremely proud of Steve. My son Tim was next to me and said I was completely frozen during Steve's speech but then started asking him inane questions while the Libyan Ambassador to the United States was talking. I think I was relieved that Steve had done so well and could finally relax a bit. Of course Tim was actually trying to LISTEN to the Ambassador, so that wasn't good. 

Maggie stayed home and held down the fort. 

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