Before the summer of 2005, my family and I hadn't been to Mexico since probably 1992. Life happens, money needs to be saved, before long you realize it's been nearly 13 years since you've gone on vacation with your own family. It's not something we ever really had a discussion about, but after my mom died, my dad, and sister and I had this unspoken group mantra of: "Life's too short. We're going on vacation damnit!"
The year after my mom passed away we went to Mexico for a month. The purpose of this trip was mostly to bury her ashes in her family's cemetery and give her a proper memorial service in the town where she was born and raised. Her family is sort of a big deal in this teeny town seeing as her mom was the town's midwife, her uncle is a Hail Mary away from being a Bishop, her brother is a priest, her sister is a nun, her aunt is a Mother Superior and, well, she herself was in the convent too. But as you know from the fact that she moved to Detroit, she didn't last very long in there. That part of her life reminds me of the Sound of Music, but without the Nazis, far fewer children, and a lot more Motown.
Although life as a nun clearly wasn't for my mom, she was definitely a very spiritual person. When chemo-Tuesdays were becoming unbearable and hope was dwindling down, she kept telling my sister and I peculiar things we weren't necessarily ready to hear. She'd say "Meggie, when I die, I'll come back to you girls as a butterfly... you'll just know it's me." After she passed away, we wondered if anything would come of that. It certainly did in the summer of 2005.
So we're in the town of Trinidad, population...200? At least half the town is in Church with us and we're all there to celebrate the life of my mom and to remember that it's been one year since her death. My uncles are the priests leading the mass and everything is calm and quiet until out of nowhere this crazy butterfly zooms into the church and starts flying around the altar, almost flirting (very characteristic of my mom) with all the men up at the altar with my uncles. They start swatting at her, trying to get her to stop and they're tripping over themselves all the while. My dad and sister and I are now laughing because the mass is actually being interrupted by this butterfly. She then leaves the poor men at the altar alone, flies straight over to where we were sitting, lands on my sister's shoulder and just cuddles there for a solid 8 minutes. My dad shook his head in disbelief. My sister and I cried. After she fluttered off my sister's shoulder, she made her way over to my side and sat beside me on the wall for a bit before fluttering right out of the church. Even though this butterfly was just screaming the essence of my mom, we were still a wee bit skeptical until after the mass was over and our cousins told us that they had never seen that kind of butterfly in Trinidad before. Sometimes they get monarchs or other moths, but this butterfly was particularly unique and they had never seen it before.
The rest of that trip in Mexico was equally as heart-warming. Spending time with her family, meeting people we never met before who knew her when she was little; it all made us feel that much closer to her. Her spirit is so alive in this country, and in all the people who knew her. It was particularly amazing to hear stories of her younger self and to exchange our stories of her older self, and see how little she changed. I mean, she definitely grew as a person, but that spunky, funny spirit always remained.
Since then our trips to Mexico have morphed from a focus on feeding an understandable need to be closer to her into a desire to simply celebrate life, live without regrets, and constantly create new memories for ourselves. Above all, we honour her life and memory by living in the present instead of dwelling on the past and the sadness that could easily haunt us. It's so easy to look back at that time that she was sick and to be scared by the pain and suffering she went through. But to only remember that part of her life, and to only focus on that just isn't fair to the rest of the life she lived. She only had cancer for one out of the 52 years that she lived here on Earth. So to me, Mexico is a chance to reconnect with my mother and her spirit while creating new memories and fun for myself.
So that brings us to today! We're here, in the Mayan Riviera and tonight we saw a wonderful show. It was a re-enactment of the Mayans, their culture, how their land was conquered and how Mexico developed as a country since then. It was really hard not to feel her presence during the entire thing.
Being here in Mexico and having the chance to do this yoga challenge at the same time is simply amazing. I'm really grateful that I have the opportunity to be here, especially while on my 30-day challenge. It's definitely added a new dimension to the word "challenge" seeing as it's been nearly impossible to squeeze in my practice everyday. 
Tonight I did "Goin' Big" (Full Routine). This puppy was 85 minutes long. No posture in particular was new because at this point I've done them all in either Eddie Would Flow, Bliss Rider, or Shoulder High, just never all at once. I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a good class. The editing is golden in this dvd set and the music changes up as well so you don't feel like you're doing the same video everyday. I kind of forget I'm not in a studio sometimes too. Eoin's calm voice makes you feel right at ease and he always throws in a bit of wisdom in there to make you think, which I like a lot.
I love it, Meg
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