Today at my sacred dance group someone asked me about my daughter’s heritage. Afterwards she said to me, you are so lucky to have her. Y E S! I was so touched. She is Guatemalan and when we first adopted her people would go on and on saying how lucky SHE was. It seemed the assumption was being in America was so much more fortunate. While I will agree this is the land of opportunity to some degree, perhaps more then most places, she still lost a lot of beautiful culture leaving behind her Mayan roots. Guatemala is awash is gorgeous color, the indigenous huipil clothing each works of art indicating village, marital status and other information. The sense of family, of community, of history, of wisdom, while greatly impacted by a history of violence in Guatemala, is still something to be mourned for its loss. Do I see my daughter as fortunate for the amazing education she has received with a Waldorf primary school and a mastery based learning mind set high school? To have two parents not buried in poverty and thus able to devote more time and energy to her? Yes, I do. Yet I am aware of what she lost in this move. I fully recognize that this amazing gift in our lives came at a cost. May all being be blessed with enough to eat, basic needs met AND a rich cultural tradition to sustain the Mystery.
remembering the joy of being
