This week was jam packed as usual, with many families in the house for periods of time. The week got more interesting with Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos. More art! The big Halloween mural finally got retired. We walked around Revolución St. Halloween night and there were TONS of kids and adults in costumes trick-or-treating at businesses on the street.
Dia de los Muertos passed last night, however, without us doing much. Javier has been sick, and Nancy and I weren’t quite brave enough to take an Uber to a cemetery that evening. Adding to my desire to just be quiet was spending the afternoon with the mom whose husband had been shot a week ago, when she fled with the two kids and her sister and her daughter. They all came by, so we got to play with the kids, eat lunch, and generally let them relax. The mom and I both cried when she showed me the photos of her husband’s new gravesite with beautiful arrangements of red flowers on the coffin before it was lowered into the ground. I think the funeral for him was yesterday. Imagine what it was like for her not to be there. It was good for her to be with us, to talk about him, and to cry while Javier, Nancy, and I took turns playing with the kids. And baby M got to try out his stroller! Fit for a king!
What else? One family member today at El Chaparral gave Javier information on their family members—two moms and two young children who crossed over a month ago and no one has heard from them. They are frantic, and they are far from the first. We get calls from another woman’s son, who is so worried about his mom and where she is at. I will see what I can do this afternoon.
Today there was almost a riot at El Chaparral, because some people said they had proof that people were paying money to get numbers ahead of people who wait day after day. This erupting anger is not at all surprising nor was it the first time, given the horrible lack of any logical, fair process. They were told new numbers would be called tomorrow. We’ll see.
THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who responded to our request to send warm tops in small and medium mostly adult women’s sizes!!! If we have more than we can use, we’ll pass them on to Jill to take to the shelters she visits. PLEASE, for anything mailed, make sure you’re sending it to Jill’s new address on Cypress Ave. If you need the address, email or text me. The people in her old house are getting tired of receiving packages meant for her and me but have been nice enough to let her know.
Today I have to say that I am still cold, and I’m in the house writing this at 10:00. I wore a cotton shirt, my hoodie, and a jacket on top of that this morning at El Chaparral. The weather app says it’ll be 81 degrees by noon, but right now my hands are freezing!!! “Cry me a river,” I can hear my friends in Oregon and other parts of the country saying! HAHA