Dia de los Muertos: Gratitude & Grief altar

diadelosmuertos2016

An honor to participate again this year in the Marigold Project's Dia de los Muertos event in San Francisco's Garfield Park. My Gratitude & Grief altar looked lovely in the afternoon sun, awaiting the evening visitors from this world and beyond. Thousands of people came to Garfield Park to pay their respects to a love one who'd gone to the other side. Sometimes this loss was decades old. For others, the loss so fresh the tears did not stop falling.Hosting the altar with two close friends as well as my sons, I felt this year more than ever the integration of longing and loss into a love-filled life. Meaning, that rawness that brings me to standing on the edge of creativity meeting you in your grief and your gratitude; this is the "get love. give love." journey for me. In the dark of the middle of the night as my son and I cleaned up the altar and hundreds of love notes, a stranger stopped to help. We talked as we workd about what happens with the loves notes afterward (I take them all home. I read each one. I sort the notes. A curated selection appears in the 826 Valencia window display in January/February. I dream of a museum exhibit.) The stranger suggested I read some aloud each day on video, giving another opportunity to witness, to give and receive.I've started reading a few love notes live each day on Facebook and on my Instagram story. Join me there for more Gratitude & Grief.Until next year, dear dead we await you.