It is all souls day. Dia de la muerta.
It is not a sad thing to think about people who have touched your life in ways big and small. I remember Joy Duskin who accepted and celebrated everyone she knew all the time.
I remember. Martin Hiraga who was quirky and seemingly small until he got in front of a bunch of people and talked about social injustice and how mighty you could be. I also remember him talking to me with puppets while we rode in a car just because that was how Martin do.
I remember Eric timmerman saying no one will remember him because he was such a bastard. Eric, you were so wrong. We remember you because you were a bastard. We also remember you because you would drop these knowledge bombs and make us rethink the world.
I remember Mark Levy who was the first of my friends to die of AIDS. That was hard.
I remember tita Bella and her flan. Don’t tell all the other titas but I think she was the most beautiful of them (and they all are).
Of course, Dad. I am finding myself becoming or maybe I always have been him. It is insidious how much he has informed my life. I don’t think he knew he was doing it at the time in the same way that I am doing it to my children. I appreciate how wonderful a parent he is. was.