And they will know you by my trail of tears
Tin and I went to see his nanny’s Day of the Dead art show this evening. He saw her from behind and ran to her but when she turned and had her face painted, he sort of got the willies and backed off, but then he was compelled to keep going back to her. It’s odd to walk into your nanny’s house and see a side of her that you don’t see in her daily life – we know she’s an artist, but you don’t get a sense for her talent when she is drawing pumpkins and black cats for Tin’s wall, and you suspect she has a love life, but suddenly you see a full embodiment of another human in front of you, and what was perhaps even odder was that while Tin recognized her from behind, I didn’t, she sounded hip and cool and mature (we don’t think of this when she is watching our 19 month old).
Just an hour earlier, I had been sitting at my dining table speaking to a friend and neighbor and we were commiserating about stuff going on right now in our lives when I just started choking up about my mom. I told her that I just need to make it through the first anniversary so that I can maybe get out of this sadness hovering over me these days. So when I was looking at the art on the wall and I saw the nanny had painted a colorful and wonderful rendition of Oshun, I bought the painting on the spot.
Tatjana has a Spanish saint that Paloma’s mom Paquita gave her in Madrid – it is Saint Pancracio (a child martyr and his prayer is St. Pancracio, pray for all teenagers that their faith may be as strong as yours, strong enough to lead them through all the trials of their life). She lights a tea candle every day in memory of my mom and of Wolfie and Arlene. Well now I have my own saint, Oshun, who is more an undergoddess than a saint, but how appropriate that the elders in Cuban lore consider Oshun to represent the unseen mother present at every gathering.
Oshun’s elements are moisture, water and attraction and she is a reminder to all of us that no one is an enemy to water. How appropriate for living in the heartbeat of water, New Orleans, and near the bayou.
Oshun is coming home after the show is over. Home where she belongs.