Mother's Day passed with the departed

At the Buena Vista cemetery on Saturday, descendants of dearly departed mothers gathered to honor their matriarchs in honor of the Mexican celebration of Mother's Day.

For the seventh year, the cemetery brought musicians, cake and fruit for those visiting loved ones buried there.

Brownsville residents like Daniel Castillo brought wreaths of carnations and roses to the gravesites of their mothers.

"My mother was a really loving person, a really demanding person," said Castillo. His mother, Maria Alicia, was a single parent and died when he was 12. "It's hard to sit at your friends' houses and watch them celebrate Mother's Day. They treat me like I'm their son, but it's hard."

Castillo is now 32 years old and works as a BISD attendance liaison while earning his degree to be a special education teacher from the University of Texas Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Before leaving the cemetery, Castillo said a prayer to his mother and kissed her headstone.

"It took me a while to come here and see her after she'd already passed away," he said. "Now I come and thank her for everything."

Aurora Feliz sat listening to the mariachi band playing soulfully for mourners. She cried a little, dwelling on her mother's memory as she passed her first Mother's Day without her.

"Everyday we have to remember our mothers," Feliz said, who drove by herself from Guanajuato to visit her mother's grave.

Today, Feliz is a university professor. Wiping away her tears as the mariachi band began another ballad she smiled a little.

"I think she would be proud of me," she said.