El Dia de los Muertes.

I know this was not an assignment, but this activity hit very close to home, so I decided to blog on it anyway.
The day before I moved down to Redlands from Lake Arrowhead, I learned that my friend Ethan had passed away in a car accident the night before. I knew Ethan through the wrestling program at my high school; though I was not extremely close to him the impact of his passing was felt tremendously,mostly vicariously through wrestlers I was closer to.
In addition to being a varsity wrestler, Ethan was involved with boy scouts, and a devout guitar player. He would have been a senior at Rim this year, and intended to become a fire fighter after graduation. His life was cut short, however, when his girlfriend, Emily, took a corner too fast on the rim, sending his car through the guard rail and over the side of the mountain. Emily survived the accident, but her spirit has been shattered by it's repercussions- feeling the responsibility of his death, having to declare bankruptcy at age 18 due to hospital bills and damages, being charged with involuntary manslaughter.
This tragedy intensified the difficulty of the transition of relocating, as I felt like I should have been mourning him with my team. I was constantly on the phone with my boys up the hill, and was unable to focus on my new surroundings- which I think in the long run stunted my social ability at the University. I had to miss one of our first FYS meetings in order to attend his funeral, which was one of the most difficult affairs I have ever had to attend- watching boys who I had seen dislocate arms or break noses with out flinching cry their hearts out over their friend's grave made me ill.
I couldn't help but have Ethan in mind during the Dia de los Muertes activities. When we were painting the votive candles, I chose to cover mine in music notes, but shortly learned that I had painted them all backwards. While I was disappointed momentarily, I was comforted when Gary said "In some places in Canada, though, they sometimes draw them in that direction, so you can just say it's from Canada." No one every understood why, but Ethan had always had an unusual obsession with Canada, even going as far as saying that was where he was from, though he had never been there. It so amazed me how accidentally perfect that little project fit my dear friend's life and interests, I was brought to tears.