Dancing Through Grief: A Tribute to My Mother

From a young age, I have always loved to dance. It's something innate that runs in my blood and transports me to another dimension. During my grieving process, my sisters and my nephew joined me on the day we completed the Novena for my mother, a tradition in the Catholic religion where we pray for nine consecutive days after the death and funeral.

Since my family is scattered around the world, we connected via video call and prayed together. On the final day, we decided to perform a ritual and release some of her ashes, which I had brought with the intention of placing them in a plant. However, this did not happen due to various reasons and beliefs within my family. During the release at a creek near a local park in the city, my nephew scattered some of the ashes, and I took the rest and danced with them to a song by Carlos Vives, a song I always danced to with my mother, whose name was also Rosa, like my mother.

I did this with joy and fond memories as a tribute to the amazing woman she was. Today, after that moment, I look back at the video my sisters recorded, and I remember it with joy. Letting go of loved ones is not easy, as we are often conditioned to believe that letting go is like cutting the anchor that ties us to them or the situations that we fear to leave. But we shouldn't stay attached to processes that life itself leads us to let go of because there will always be more to learn, more people to meet, or someone else to dance with.

In my process of detachment and living a more authentic life, I wake up today to the greatness and beauty of a new day with the most beautiful memory of my mother. The most special thing I will always carry in my heart is that I could dance with her until the last moment of my process. Don't be afraid, let go, and dance through life.