In remembrance

Since returning from Canada, I have been busy here in Manzanillo looking for a new place to live, catching up with friends and getting back into the swing of things. My internet has been down at my house for the last several weeks hence the reason for being incommunicado. I am working on a long term solution so I hope to be connected again soon. Also, I had some friends come visit from Seattle for two weeks and they just left yesterday. My friends Barb and John along with their two sons Dave and Jeff came and we had a wonderful time together.

The Thompson family


Barb and John were here on January 23, which was the anniversary of my mother's death. On that day, Julio, the gardener from the condos we used to vacation at, cut and gathered a bunch of fresh bougainvillea flowers to spread near my mom's final resting place. John and Barb had offered to come with me and went to the market to pick up some other flowers. They asked me if there were any specific flowers that I wanted. I thought that the flowers the gardener was gathering for me would be sufficient but then at the last minute asked them for an orange gerber daisy. When I arrived at the condos to meet up with Barb and John, Julio had the flowers ready for me in a bucket. Directly in the middle of the all the beautiful bougainvillea flowers was a single orange gerber daisy.



Barb and John had not yet come down from to meet me so I assumed that this was the gerber daisy that I had asked for. When they came down, I showed them the flowers and thanked them for the gerber daisy. They were quite confused and said that no, they had not in fact put the daisy in with Julio's flowers. They had purchased a full bouquet of gerber daisies, including an orange one as I had requested. When they went to show me the bouquet, to all of our amazement, the orange one was missing. The stem was still there, but it had apparently fallen off on their way up to their condo. Julio must have discovered the daisy on the ground and put it in the center of the flowers he had cut. We were all quite astonished and dumbstruck when we discovered that the one specific flower I had asked them for ended up in the flower arrangement without intending for that to happen. One might say that my mom's spirit was very much present for such a thing to happen. I like to think so. It was a beautiful moment and to this day, I still get goosebumps when I think of that moment. I have had a few other moments like this here in Manzanillo. It gives me a sense of peace that I feel her spirit with me.


We walked down the beach to my mom's final resting place and after some tears and me saying a few words of remembrance, I spread the flowers in the water. It was a picture perfect day and I felt very blessed to be able to be here, and secondly to have my dear friends Barb and John with me. They are like family to me and have been and are very supportive in my life.

Mom's final resting place


When I think of my Mom, there is one thing that immediately comes to mind and that was her passion for life and her ability to live each and every moment to the fullest. Mom had so many amazing qualities but this particular one has truly inspired me and is one of the biggest things I will take away with me in my life. So many people live their lives in robot mode, going through the motions, not really present in their lives. This was definitely not the case with Mom. She lived each and every moment to the fullest. When I think of Mom and the legacy she has left behind, I think of her amazing spirit, how vibrant she was and how many lives she has touched.

Another special thing happened on this day. My good friend Renee had a healthy baby boy! This beautiful moment reminds me of the circle of life.

Back from Canada!

I am back in Manzanillo and have been quite busy since I returned. Sorry for my absence from the whole blogging scene. I should be posting on a regular basis from now on. I got back to Manzanillo the first week of January and was housesitting/dogsitting/catsitting for some friends that looked after my dogs while I was away. I just returned to my apartment recently and it feels good to be home and in my own bed. The dogs were happy to see me and I them! I missed them so much while I was gone.

My trip back home was fantastic and went by incredibly fast. It was a flurry of non-stop visiting, eating, drinking and the typical over indulgences of the holiday season. It felt very strange when I arrived in Calgary. Everything was familiar but yet I knew it was no longer my home. First of all, it was -25 degrees Celcius and there was heaps of snow. I get off the plane adorned in capri pants, open toe sandals and all my Mexican wear. What a shock to the system! My friend Camelia picked me up from the airport with all the winter necessities....winter boots, winter coat, mitts, scarf, etc. And she even went to get the car to pick me up in the front so I would not freeze walking to her car. What an angel!

I stayed at my old house (which I had sold to one of my good friends) while in Calgary. When I arrived, it was very strange as the place had been completely renovated. It looks amazing and Lenise and her parents did an amazing job. It was nice to be back in my old house along with some of my things. I even got to sleep in my old bed! Both Camelia and Lenise had left me a welcome home present of some of my favorite things - my favorite cookies, my favorite wine, etc. Even though it was very late when I arrived, it took along time for me to wind down.....I was excited to be home and see all my friends and family. With all the Christmas lights and snow, it finally felt like Christmas.

The Christmas lights in front of City Hall


The next morning, Camelia, her husband and I went out for dim sum - one of my favorites. I had a long list of foods I wanted to eat while in Calgary, and I pretty much crossed everything off that list. The straining waist band on my jeans is definitely a testament to this! My friends here in Manzanillo wanted me to take photos of all the ethnic foods I ate while in Canada as we cannot get some of them here.

One of our dim sum delicacies


Afterwards, it was my good friend Michelle and Mike's daughter's first birthday party. I was so happy I was able to be back for this special event. She has grown up so fast and is adorable as ever.

A picture of the birthday girl and her amazing Elmo cake made by mom aka Martha Stewart! Very impressive cake!


From there, I went to my welcome back party at Camelia's. It was alot of fun and great to see all the crew from Melrose Place and a few people that were my mom's dear friends that dropped in by surprise. We had lots of laughs and it was so nice to see everyone. Brad even was a good sport and brought out his "Hugh Heffner" smoking jacket for all the ladies! I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Some of the crew from the party


My favorite cupcakes from Crave - they taste even better then they look!


The infamous smoking jacket!


A big thanks to Camelia for hosting and organizing this event. It was so much fun and I still laugh out loud when I see the photos.

Well, all of this in my first 24 hours in Canada. There are many more adventures to write about! Stay tuned.......