The Countdown to Halloween: Honoring The Dead

November 6, 1929-October 23, 2012

To My Dearest Grandma Anne,

I miss you already. You have just barely passed a day ago, but it feels like it's longer. Even though you didn't celebrate Samhain, I do, and I will honor you in advance. I will do what I do for honoring the dead, following in my mom's footsteps, along with doing my own rituals. I will honor you with your favorite food and drink. I will pray for you, looking back at all the good times we had together, even though those times were few and far between due to dad's wanting to stay away due to stuff I didn't know at the time but know now. I will create a sigil just for you, and send it off into the universe in the most fabulous fashion. You would have really loved to see that in person, since I knew you loved seeing things involving flash paper. I will leave you honey to enjoy, as an offering, especially if you decide to make your presence known anytime soon. I will be keeping an eye out in case you do. I will honor you in my artwork, especially if it's folk art, since that is what you specialized in when you were alive. I will learn and master making your recipes for cranberry salad, peanut butter soft cookies, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. I will learn your favorite songs on the piano and organ. I will become better at remembering to write thank you notes, since you thought that it was always the polite thing to do whenever you received a gift. I will paint my nails black, not only to cope with what has happened, but also because you loved seeing me with black nail polish on. I will take risks, like you did. I will look into family history more, since you were one of the best family historians this side of the family has ever known. I will sing whenever the mood strikes, since you said you loved my singing voice. I will hunt for gemstones like you did. Last, but not least, I will look over grandpa, like he looked over you. I worry about him, since he loved you very much. We promise to keep an eye on him.

Know that you may be gone now, but certainly not forgotten. I will never forget all that you have done for this family.

Rest in peace, Grandma. I love you.

~Krystal