The Art of Remembering: My Father

The Recuerda Mi Corazon blog is hosting an October meme called The Art of Remembering.  You can read more about it here and read this week's memories at this link.  In Rebecca's words, the purpose of this Sunday exercise is to "share our most personal memories of loved ones and their forever places in our hearts.  As we take time to do the sacred work of remembering we are filled with the presence of all those now gone that once filled our days with love and comfort."  As soon as I read about this meme on Gloria's blog, I knew I wanted to participate because I thought it would be the perfect run-up to Dias de los Muertos (a Mexican celebration of remembering those who have passed away that occurs on Nov.1).  I definitely plan to put up a Dias altar this year, especially because I did not do one last year.  So, for my first Sunday in The Art of Remembering, I want to share this memory of my father (you can see a collage I made in his honor up top). 
************************************************************************

My Father, the Balladeer

I spent all day today at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival selling tamales to support the High School soccer team. Our booth was in a parking lot turned food court which also contained a stage. Mid-morning, a cowboy band began their set, and I heard the familiar chords and lyrics of the cowboy's lament, "The Streets of Laredo." The song brought me immediately back to my childhood. . . a childhood where my father was always singing cowboy songs and Mexican corridos. As he puttered around the house or rocked his children to sleep, he sang The Streets of Laredo, The Yellow Rose of Texas and, my favorite, The Red River Valley.  

One of my favorite stories involved him and his compadres going out drinking while my mother stayed home because she was pregnant.  Apparently, they felt guilty  and so went home and serenaded her in the wee small hours of the night!  

At my father's funeral, my brother asked the vocalists to sing "Red River Valley." There wasn't a dry eye in the house as they sang, "Come and sit by my side, if you love me.  Do not hasten to bid me adieu. Just remember the Red River Valley. And the cowboy who loved you so true."

Dad, I will always remember you.