Special Note to This Issue: My Mother's Passage
by Darling Graciela Villena-Mata

I want to apologize to you, dear readers, and to the writers who submitted their articles on time. As you will notice this issue is late by two months. "Transforming Life Difficulties into Adventures of the Soul" has been the logo and basic philosophy of CIrclePoint, the publisher of InnerMidst. Being the founder and editor-in-chief, I have strived to live my life that way. To walk my talk, so to speak.

To put it bluntly, my mother, Graciela Elisa Granizo Villena de Mata was dying. In mid-December, I left my hometown of Austin to be with my parents and siblings in Los Angeles during this time of transitions, grief, transformation, and wonderment of life and God.

[For an indeterminate amount of time, I and with me, CirclePoint's main operations will be based in Los Angeles. Via Austin Design and others who make this website and its contents possible continue in their present locations. (Texas, Oregon, Northern and Southern California, and abroad) CirclePoint's services will continue.]

Below is something I wish to share with you, which I wrote about my mother.

As of 6:40 a.m., Sunday, January 30th, 2000, Mamita Gracielita passed away. She died in her sleep. It was a peaceful passing unto the Light. She was bathed by me, my comadre, and the night nurse. As I finished the rest of the bathing with essential oils and fragance, something very interesting occurred.

Her peaceful face changed. Her eyes opened as she was turned on her back. The expressions on her eyes was something to see. There was a gleam in them as though she was witnessing or seeing something truly amazing and glorious. The expression on her face was that of wonderment. Her mouth was slightly opened in the form of a beautiful grin of ecstasy. Her hair during the last weeks had turned blacker with only the front areas greying. It was beautiful.

Today, at 11 a.m., we put her to rest in her natural state. My father chose a place in Santa Monica, closer to the ocean in a small parklike cemetary and mausoleum. She is interred in a crypt. With an open casket, her eyes and her mouth had closed as nature would have it. Still even in her sleep like posed, her mouth held a smile and eyelids were crinkled as though she was smiling within.

As my brother, Fernando, put it, "A buddha-like pose."

I will miss her dearly in the familiar ways we have connected. Now we will commune in new ways that are fortunately not too unfamiliar for me but new to my other family members.

My mother has and will continue to bless me, wherever she is. My parents, Graciela Elisa and Jose Alberto have been my inspiration to look at life as adventures to enjoy and challenges to transform. We have been and will continue to be deeply spiritual, honoring all walks of life and the different ways people seek and are in God. Graciela Elisa Granizo Villena de Mata (and that is only part of my beloved mami's name!) is the StoryTeller of our family. With her grace, humour, style, and courteous ways of being, she welcomes all whom she meets -- be them at bustops, supermarkets, family, friends, colleagues, strangers. Everyone is part of us. And we of them.

When she left the UCLA hospital, she blew kisses and thanks to everyone --doctors, nurses, technicians. Some of them came during their off-days to see her. Even while she was in pain or in great discomfort, she would still thank those who were trying to ease her pain, even though they were sticking needles in her. She went home, to be surrounded by love.

Passionate for life, good debates, loving embraces, a ready smile and kiss, she brought life to a gathering. She had quite a memory for songs, poetry, and stories. Above all, she had the soul of a dancer and entertainer. In her last days, her wish was to be able to continue walking, dancing, and making people feel at home. In the last weeks, she managed to stand up and walk, with assistance of her sons, Fernando Alberto and Guillermo Gonzalo. Listening to the music we had on, she swiveled her hips and nodded her head in rhythm. She still pulled jokes on us with a poker face, and then break up laughing and chuckling.

She never forgot to be gracious, to acknowledge people and who they were and are. That is part of the legacy that I and my brothers gladly choose to keep and pass on. Graciela leaves many gifts of love through us and the people she has touched in her life. People who have met her also know her as Mami (Spanish for beloved mother) or Mamita (much beloved mother).

As my father, Jose Alberto put on her crypt, "Gracielita, tu has sido y siempre seras mi unica gran amor." ("Gracielita, you have been and will continue to be always my one great love.")

I thank you all for being part of my life, my life's stories. Being an immigrant and having immigrant parents, I learned from them that our lives are adventures. From my mother, the Storyteller, of our family, I learned that we have within ourselves the power to write or re-write our own travels at any time to the tune of music and kind of dance that fills our hearts and lightens our steps.

My mother loved to storytell. And as her daughter, I will continue that part of our tradition as well. For writing is a profound way to touch our own hearts and others' too. Our passions, our joys, our sadness, our wails, our discoveries and wonderment -- all serve to inspire and re-inspire ourselves and others. That is how mi querida mama (my beloved mother) would have wanted it.

Many blessings to you all. On behalf of the Villena-Mata family

May we all walk in the beauty that we are. We are all related.

Darling Graciela

Parenting and Relationship
My Mother's Passage
Written by Darling Villena-Mata

Features
A Gift to Yourself
Written by Clare Woods

Men Supporting Women
From Grandpa's Eyes
Written by Gary Craig

On the Greene by Maria Susan Greene
White Potatoes
Provisions

Spirit-to-Spirit
A Talk with Fear
Written by Bonnie Arielle

In The Name of Love
Written by Mary Ellen Albert

Now
Written by Darling Villena-Mata

Health Share
Herbalist and Mystic
Submitted by American Botanical Council

For the Record
Showing Up YourSelf
Written by Linda Compton

On the Spot...
...with Karen Norling

Q&A
Chordcutting
by Readers and CirclePoint

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