All souls go to Heaven

This is my 14^th year teaching fourth grade. My students present an All Saints’ Day Celebration of the Saints where the children choose a saint to research, write a report on them, and on All Saints’ Day, which is on Nov. 1, the students dress up as their saint for the student body. They share how their saint spread the light of Jesus. It is a cute tradition that for many families has become a rite of passage.

While I love the longstanding tradition of All Saints’ Day, I particularly love the day after, All Souls Day. In Mexican culture, this day is often referred to as The Day of the Dead. While the day of celebration may vary, in the Catholic Church, this day is celebrated on Nov. 2. In my faith, it is believed that when someone dies, their soul still lives. This is a day to celebrate the faithfully departed.

The month of November is a time to particularly focus on those we love who have died. This day is one of comfort for me because it makes me appreciate that even though someone we love may have passed away, they are not forgotten, and it’s a special time to come together and purposely pray for their soul. It is a day that makes me think of my dad and of other people that have passed. Even though their physical body is not here, their spirit and soul lives on and that is something to be celebrated and thankful for.

Mema Hudson’s platter being used as a charcuterie board and heirloom wine glasses. (Photo provided by Megan Rathz)

The idea of making sure that someone’s spirit still lives on is so important to me. My children will not have the opportunity to meet my dad, but I know that the way that I speak about him will lend itself to the way my children feel like they knew the man he was. I know this firsthand from the way my mom always spoke about her Mema.

My mom always told me about her grandmother and how she always made her feel so special. She told me that she never realized her Mema was poor when my mom was a child because of how much trouble she went to and how special she made everything. Each kid in their family had a drawer of a dresser that her Mema would place special things in for them and when they’d come and stay for the weekend, my mom would always have something in her drawer. It wasn’t anything of any great expense, but it was the fact that her Mema specifically chose it with her in mind and remembered her.

My mom recently came across an old platter that belonged to her Mema and family heirloom wine glasses. I absolutely loved them; not just because they were beautiful, but because it belonged to my great-grandmother, a woman that I grew up hearing so much about.

My mom also gave me the mahogany dressers that belonged to her Mema and Pap (that’s what she called her grandfather). Pap was also someone whom I never met, but I grew up hearing how my mom used to sit on his lap and drive around the front yard in his car and how he always chewed his gum with his front teeth. I know that my uncle still wears his wedding ring.

Mema and Pap’s old mahogany dresser that is being used in my home. On top sits a jewelry box given to me by my Papa, their son. (Photo provided by Megan Rathz)

I placed a jewelry box given to me by my Papa when I was a little girl on top of the same dressers that once belonged to his folks. My husband and I shared a bottle of wine and drank out of the heirloom wine glasses and made a charcuterie board with Mema’s platter. The dresser sits in our master bedroom, and I can’t help but think about the memories and periods of time that the dresser has seen over the years.

Regardless of your faith background, All Souls’ Day and the month of November invite all of us to remember the people that are no longer here physically but are here in everything we do. Nature provides us with the season of fall. Fall is representative of death and things passing on, but it is also a reminder of the life that exists beyond death. This season and each day are giving us the opportunity to share with others about those whom we love that have transitioned to Heaven. And for that, in this season of gratitude and remembrance, I am very thankful.

Megan Rathz is a wife, mother, and teacher. She says everything she has ever learned in life came from her Master Gardener mother.