My Shrine- Pauline Marting

When I was first confronted with the idea that I was going to have to craft a personal shrine for this class, I was completely at a loss for what I should make it to. Luckily, no one in my family has passed away recently, and I was too young to remember my last pet that passed away. Though I consider myself very fortunate in these matters, it did make my brainstorming process slightly more difficult. I finally decided to craft a shrine that would be a memorial to two things; first, my grandmother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's ten years ago, and second, to the place that we would go for every spring break on vacation: a little island just south of cuba named Grand Cayman. For a year or so leading up to her diagnosis, my grandmother became incapable of remembering important details, like if she was supposed to pick me up at school. As her condition began to deteriorate, she could no longer accompany us on the long plane rides to the island, and it became more difficult for her to move around. Around the same time, the Ritz Carlton set up a resort in Grand Cayman, and with the Ritz came enormous amounts of tourists. Georgetown, the capital of the island, was completely overcrowded with people from cruise ships, and new malls and attractions were being built up all over the island. Only a year or two after we stopped going to the Cayman islands with my grandmother, we stopped going altogether as a family because we couldn't stand all of the crowds. The outside of my shrine is covered in pamphlets, postcards and photos from the island. Two of my grandmother's favorite attractions were the turtle farm and the botanical garden, though unfortunately the turtle farm was badly damaged during hurricane Ivan. Inside my shrine I have several family photos taken during our various vacations on the island, as well as shells that we collected from the beach. There is also a treasure chest of sorts which contains more shells and additionally, pieces of jewelry that my grandmother gave to me before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Finally, I have a CD from one of our favorite island performers, George Nowak. Under the name The Barefoot Man, Nowak lives and performs on Grand Cayman as well as on neighboring islands, and I grew up listening to his music. I even had the chance to meet him one night at dinner, and my first question to my parents was why he was wearing shoes if he was The Barefoot Man. It's very sad to me that the island that I grew up with and loved is no longer in existence; it also saddens me that my grandmother can't remember the many years we spent there together. This shrine really helps remind me though of the wonderful times that I had with her on the island, times that I will forever cherish.