The Apron Chronicles

My Nana Florence told me about this exhibit over the holiday and reading through the various stories, I was moved to share them here…
www.apronchronicles.com
For my birthday this year, my mother made me a beautiful apron with beautiful bright colors on one side and dancing dia de los muertos skeletons on the other side. (She gets teased a lot for her love of all things Day of the Dead, but I think it’s because we have lost so many loved ones in the last 10 years – those little figurines remind me of how previous life is and how thin the line is between life and death.) She embroidered my name on it and finished it with piping. I wore it last night while I made navy bean soup and reflected on 2008, looking forward to the new year, hoping that 2009 proves more peaceful, sane and joyous for the planet.
When I opened up my email this morning, I found the link to this beautiful and touching project.
I remember my Nana Jane wearing an apron in her big farm house in Corralitos, California – I have a vivid memory of laying on my belly on the lawn with her while we watched a parade of ants as they climbed up blades of grass. Though I was only 3 or so, she had me imagine what it would be like to be an ant and started me thinking in abstract terms.
She died when I was 12 and I have always wished that we had had more time. There are so many questions that I would ask her if she were still alive. But whenever I think of her and talk to her now, she’s right there. In some ways, it’s like she never left.