Obon Festival

The annual Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple was last weekend. The Obon festival is a celebration of the lives of those who have passed on. This year we have lost two family members, Grandma May and Auntie Martha. So the whole family danced the first dance of the Obon to remember and thank Grandma and Auntie Martha for all they did for us. Auntie Martha's death was such a shock that I still haven't realized that she really is gone. I look for her at family parties and events like the Obon Festival. She was so sweet and lovely and fun to tease. She always had a dish towel in her hand, always standing ready to help, always asked about how my family was, always there. One of my favorite memories of Auntie Martha is of when she bought coffee cups and they had animals on them. She gave them to her bowling team. She didn't realize that the animals were in various sexual positions. I still laugh at that story because Martha had no idea that the cups were funny cups, she thought they were cute animal cups. I miss Auntie Martha so much. Grandma May was 96 when she passed away. She was an amazing woman too. So giving, I never left her house without some food or a gift. Whatever she had, she shared. She was fun, upbeat, could make a ribbon bow like no other, and loved everyone. Sometimes Troy and I would go over there and she had been napping and didn't have any pants on. She would shake her behind and do a little dance. Kookie, but great. Of course I never go through an Obon without thinking of my mom. It has been 19 years since she has passed away and not a day has gone by without me thinking of her and missing her terribly. So Obon was good. The boys wanted to shop the little shop there and of course wanted to go in different directions. I would find Max and dragged him to find Josh. Josh wanted to do crafts and Max wanted to buy something then sit and play with it and Haley I don't even try to keep track of her. Thank goodness she has a cell phone (yeah, I said it). It makes me crazy when they go in different directions. Finally I got them together and put them on the stage in the middle of the dancing. There, I thought I could watch them. Then they started to perform. Here is the song they sang. Makes all the chasing worth while.