My name is Agustin and I live in a small town in the mountains of Northern Mexico.
I have worked the silver mines all my life, but years of hard labor and old age have taken their toll. My days are coming to an end.
Every day I awake to the beauty of the majestic mountain peaks I have loved all my life.
Each morning, I greet the sunrise with a song of joy and every evening I sing a soft lullaby to the setting sun.
For fifty years, I have wrapped myself in a blanket woven by my beautiful wife Ixchel.
She died many years ago and I still love her deeply.
I have never had many material things. My life story has been one of struggle and survival, but I am happy.
I have children and many grandchildren.
My daughter, Araceli is in the kitchen making “un pozole” (a traditional soup) and my grandchildren are laughing and playing outside on the street.
Araceli is a wonderful daughter and my grandchildren fill my heart with joy.
My son Ramiro lives in Juarez and is a school teacher. I am very proud of him.
The evening wind rustles the silver pines and the snow capped peaks are awash in pink and gold. It is my favorite time of the day.
I remember when Ixchel would welcome me home after a long day. We would sit around a small wood fire and talk about our dreams. But that was long ago.
Holding my blanket close, I look down and see her delicate embroidery which memorialized every important event in our lives.
The day we were married and the day each of our children and grandchildren were born. Every baptism. The day when Ramiro graduated from college and became a teacher. When Araceli became a mother. When Ixchel and I met. The day I became a foreman. There is an image of us singing with all the family. And an image of me… young and strong… running free as the wind with my best friends on rugged mountain trails.
And the day of deepest sadness when we learned our youngest son Cristian was killed in a mining accident. Ixchel embroidered his image above my heart.
Each event she sewed was a milestone in our lives …She was wise and beautiful.
It has been lonely since she passed away. But despite a humble life that many would consider impoverished, I have been happy.
I have loved a great woman and have a beautiful family.
I have played guitars with my best friends and have run beneath a star filled sky in my beloved mountains.
I feel a golden glow as the setting sun bathes our house in its warm embrace.
I want to tell the children I will miss them and always watch over them.
I feel myself slipping away.
In a moment, I am outside my body and am once again a young Tarahumara runner …vibrant and strong…The trail lies ahead and I can hardly wait to set out.
Ixchel and Cristian are there and illuminated in a beautiful light…I can hardly wait to get started…I look back at myself, aged and frail and wrapped in a poor man’s blanket.
Ixchel and Cristian take my hand
I look back one last time and smile…
For I died a rich man.
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