Hello Loves,
October has been happily busy.
Today I write this blog on Samhain. Samhain is the Gaelic holy day celebrating and honoring our ancestors. I built an elaborate altar for my relatives who have passed on. I placed together photos and mementos and candles. I like to sit by it and remember all of their stories – some told by others and some told by themselves.
I think of my great-grandmother, the one who worked as a child in an English cotton mill, and how, as an adult, she immigrated to Victoria for a better life. When she arrived she suffered through hunger and homelessness. But she persisted. I think of my grandma and how she survived the Second World War with a husband at sea in the navy for years, and a house full of daughters of her own to feed and take care of.
My mother is still alive, but I think of her too in this long chain of women bound by herstory. She grew up in the age of young marriage and a life as a housewife. When her divorce was finalized, she became a single-parent and a working mom. She raised her daughters to be autonomous and self-sufficient. And I think of myself and my daughter. The love and happiness and joy we lived and also the cruelty and injustice we endured. Yet here we both are, shining beacons of light for others.
Today is a day of giving thanks. I thank my ancestors for my life. Thank you.
