Celebration of Life - Sad Times Become Good Memories

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Wow, that was a drive. The winds have been the strongest we have ever seen and there are tornados swirling around the area as well.  As always, we confirmed the fact that we are not hotel people.  Now on the way home, we stopped in Temple, Texas for the night returning to the same hotel we used on the way up.  Our stay in the hotel in Cameron, Missouri was fine although 40 minutes from my sister's house.  It was the best we could find.  The others had stinky reviews.  Overall it was a good night, great bedding and good eats in the morning.

Friday night we had dinner with my sister.  She told us her story and I thought, here she is, out in the middle of nowhere all by herself.  During the course of dinner, people came up to her to offer her their sympathies, those that had not seen her.  It was good catching up.  We had had a rift of some sort over the years.  I always thought she was working too hard and getting little out of her efforts.  Missouri winters are hard and living on a farm in an area (at the time) she was doing all the work and driving two hours to work every day. 

The next day we drove through the town she used to live in.  It is now abandoned as so many rural towns are.  The cemetery is full of all those that have lived there over the last 170 years.  It was interesting to see how quickly a town can deteriorate.  We were there in the last twenty years and it was still alive but limping along.   My sister at that time was married to a local real estate agent.  They owned mobile homes and rented them out to farm workers.  Drugs entered the town and workers started stealing ammonia used for fertilizer to make meth.  Meth labs opened up, zombies took over and many of my sister's properties caught fire and burned to the ground.

Left to right:  My oldest niece Christina, me, my little brother Philip, sister Cecilia, oldest nephew Patrick, wife Virginia, and Juan.

After, we headed over to the celebration of life for my BIL.  Amazing how living in a small town everyone truly knows everyone else!  The place was packed and we shared stories, shed some tears, and met my sister's in-laws and family.  It was a great celebration for someone who I had never met although heard quite a bit about.  I now realize what a full and wonderful life my sister has.  I still think she works too hard and should stop but she finds her work fulfilling working with patients suffering from mental disorders.

On our way home stopping by the beach for a couple of days before heading back to Monterrey.  Tourists will be heading north and we will be going south.