FAQ/Help |
Calendar |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
08-19-2007, 10:59 AM | #1 | |||
|
||||
Member
|
I woke up this morning with a view to starting a thread on my most humiliating/gaff experiences...re-Ken and Paula`s threads. Purely just to make you smile but you just don`t know what`s around the corner do you? Some news I have just heard has both saddened me to the core,and brought me back in touch with the fragility of life with a huge sharp shock.
Last year,my dog,Jess,a huge St Bernard,[whilst a piuppy but still relatively enormous,] fell in the stream at the front of our garden.A hedge screens this stream,which has steep banks but she had found a gap in the hedge and slid down the bank.I was too ill to get to her but some lads over at the pub caame to my rescue.One lad,called Dan,thought no more about it ...fully clothed he scrambled down the bank,somehow scooped up my sodden wet and frightened puppy,and with great strength,hauled her single handedly back to safety.He emerged soaking wet,but with this enormous grin on hiis face.I couldn`t thank him enoughbut he dismissed it with a laugh and went off to change his clothes. A few months ago,during the flood,my phones were all down and I needed to make contact with my husband who was 2 hours late getting home.The road had turned into a torrential river and as I stood at the side,preparing myself to cross it to get help from the folk at the pub,Dan appeared,mobile phone in hand and forbade me to cross.He waded out to me.The rain was pelting down but as we both stood there,trying to make this call,he remained good humoured and reassuring.Nothing was too much trouble. Last Saturday,there he was again,his broad grin beaming as he and his friends enjoyed a pint and a laugh outside the pub.We had just had a meal and his workmate offered to come with Dan on Monday night to give us a quote for extensive building work to our cottage. They didn`t show. Dan was killed Sunday evening in an horrific road acciddent.As I write this...the tears won`t stop.All I can see is this young lad,so full of life and his engaging and infectious smile. What a tragic waste. Where indeed is the reasoning and logic in all this. You know,it makes you seriously think.What remains in my memory of this lovely ,generous human being is his face...his humour...his willingness to help even to the discomfort of himself. I don`t know much else about him.I don`t need to know anything else.For those attributes are enough...enough to have me remember him as one of life`s precious precious people...ready to help others,ready to make them smile...putting others before himself. You can have all the health in this world,all the wealth in this world...all the intelligence,the skills,the nice clothes,the fast cars. But who are we without warmth,and grace...care and love...generosity of spirit and a willingness to manage others before ourselves? This needs no replies,truly.It is not posted for that . I just needed to say we might have a raw deal with our illness.It doesn`t stop folk from seeing the light that can still shine within us.If we care to use it. Thanks for listening. A very sad me x |
|||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 11:07 AM | #2 | ||
|
|||
In Remembrance
|
"But who are we without warmth,and grace...care and love...generosity of spirit and a willingness to manage others before ourselves?'
Says so much doesn't it? I am so sorry Steffi-just cry it out. Paula
__________________
paula "Time is not neutral for those who have pd or for those who will get it." |
||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 11:28 AM | #3 | ||
|
|||
Member
|
You said that you did not expect replies to your post, Steff...but, I must...if even just a few words. As I sat here reading and weeping, it occurred to me that what you described...how you felt about Dan is exactly in "sync" with what I said the other day in response to the "friendship" post and what was said by someone else, here. You really didn't even know Dan, per se...but in him, indeed, was a very real friend in every sense of that word...someone who touched your life probably in one of the most profound ways that anyone could possibly touch another's life...with warmth, compassion and just plain kindness...indeed, you have lost a very dear friend Steff. May your tears be a means of starting the healing process.
Peace to you, my friend... Therese |
||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 02:23 PM | #4 | ||
|
|||
Member
|
Steff,
I know your faith, like mine, is a big part of who you are. That doesn't mean that we can't question what took place and why. To me, I look at it from a different angle. The tears aren't for him, my dear, they are for the ones he left behind. He got the good end of the deal ... he's at a place that, at times, I can't get there fast enough. And when my time does come, I want people to celebrate. She made it! She no longer has to worry about her kids ... She gets to sleep in (and stay up late) for eternity! She can hold her infant daughter again. She no longer has to worry if there will be a cure in her lifetime. She is free, at last! That doesn't stop the tears from coming for people, like yourself, who are left behind. But try to hold on to the fact that you'll see that lovely smiling face again. I apologize if this post seems out of place in light of the fact that it happened so recently. My love ... and prayers ... go out to you and the family.
__________________
Terri People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Quoted by: Maya Angelou (Reader's Digest Oct. 2006) |
||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 05:05 PM | #5 | ||
|
|||
Member
|
Steffi - It is unfair, unexpected, infuriating, agonizing, and just so sad. Your only solace is to know that yofur friend's death is something which will hurt a little less as time goes on. I am so sorry.
Ann Last edited by AnnT2; 08-19-2007 at 09:01 PM. |
||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 05:45 PM | #6 | |||
|
||||
Member
|
It seems as though I never have the words when something like this happens. I'd like to be able to say something witty to comfort you. I'd like to be able to quote a bible verse that would let you know that it's ok. I just have never been that type of person. Steff, know this, you are in my thoughts and prayers. This young man may have fulfilled his purpose here. It was time to go home. There are angles among us you know.
GregD
__________________
"You can't fight City Hall, but you can pee on the steps and run." --Gary North |
|||
Reply With Quote |
08-19-2007, 06:34 PM | #7 | |||
|
||||
Magnate
|
Quote:
Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep largely considered to be written by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1904-2004) Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am in a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow. I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the fields of ripening grain. I am in the morning hush, I am in the graceful rush Of beautiful birds in circling flight, I am the starshine of the night. I am in the flowers that bloom, I am in a quiet room. I am in the birds that sing, I am in each lovely thing. Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there. I do not die.
__________________
You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act. ~~Barbara Hall I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker. ~~Helen Keller |
|||
Reply With Quote |
08-31-2007, 08:50 AM | #8 | |||
|
||||
Member
|
I just had to let you all know this.Over 300 people attended this guys funeral.At 23 how many lives did this young man touch?His mother said this of him;
"He loved everybody and everybody loved him.He always had a smile on his face.I am n ot just saying this because I`m his mum.It was as if he didn`t belong to me...he belonged to everyone" And these words ffrom his best friend; .If a stranger broke down at the side of the roadhe would pull over and help them because that is just the kind of person he was" wow.....how proud that mother must have been to be able to say that about her son....and how moved to hear the same from others. I am smiling through tears as I write this because out of this mindless tragedy,is a lesson to us all. This lads fun eral was held close by and then the mourners came back to the pub opposite to where I live.His pall bearers all went out to buy the same suit in order to pay their respects.The sight of a street mobbed by young beautifully dressed folk was incredible and unforgettable. He should have been there himself. It costs nothing to give a smile.It costs nothing to show a simple act of kindness.It costs nothing to reach out to someone,even if they are a stranger. This young lad,who loved and lived life to the full probably accrued more friends in his 23 years than most people would see in a lifetime. And all because he reached out to people and put others first. I remain deeply humbled by this selfless human being. Love Steff x |
|||
Reply With Quote |
Reply |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Today I..... | Thoracic Outlet Syndrome | |||
today | Trigeminal Neuralgia | |||
EEG Today | Epilepsy | |||
Today... | Schizophrenia | |||
Saw Dr. C today | Thoracic Outlet Syndrome |