Happy Dia de Los Muertos!

Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has grown dramatically over recent years, with the skeleton faces and outfits of the holiday celebrating our lost souls being popular for Halloween costumes also. The darling movie Coco probably helped a lot with that, as well as things like the fantastic celebration put on at the Hollywood Forever cemetery each year. I almost like Dia de Los Muertos and all the altars and costumes and color even more than Halloween, as it puts the emphasis on people that you knew and loved and that are no longer with us ... or ARE they?

Venice got in on the action too, and I saw that some ladies are enjoying their morning tea (?) together out on a lawn party this morning ... and those are just the ones I could see. It's Friday, and the weekend is looming, and the week was exhausting, and people are probably ready to just chill and be done with all the hoopla, and I get it. But we should all try to take at least a moment today and think about those who we lost this year, and those who have been gone a while too. Thoughts and memories keep them alive, and I find comfort in that. Hi Dad! Hi Grandparents! Hi Aunts and Uncles! Hi Friends! Hi Prince! Hi Leonard Cohen! Hi Everyone!

CHEERS to you all out there! This is your day. (And for those of us who still get to run around in this astral plane - have a wonderful weekend!)

stop - GO!

I was walking around this morning, thinking about stuff, as one does. As I crossed the street, I looked down at the sidewalk to see that above the big STOP sign, someone had come along and written a little "Go".

I love it. The bit of rebellion, the simple message as we start a new week to just Go. GO!

I needed to hear that this morning as I just found out that one of my family's dearest friends, Pearl Kusunoki, had passed away. She was my next door neighbor back home since birth. She and her husband, Kiyoshi (Jim, but I always call him by his beautiful Japanese name) were always there for my family, in the best and worst of times. She was the originator of my cherry chip cookies. She was the one who told me when I moved far away for the first time, looking deeply into my eyes, that "Everything will always be alright, as long as you stay Carol." I knew what she meant. She was a special one, one who it was written in her obituary, "had a love for beauty in all things."

I was very sad as I walked along in the fog, the weather fitting my mood. But then I saw the little, tiny "Go" right above the Stop sign, and thought of little, tiny Pearl ... who would most certainly be telling me to go ... but to stay myself.

What a gift to have known her, and to be able to celebrate her memory by finding, seeing, and loving the beauty in all things.

GO!


Love to all the dear Kusunoki family, now and always.