I had a dream about him last night. We were together on one of our marine science adventures. I was trying to find my way, and he told me to "Come on and follow me." In time, I will.
He will live on in my memories--that smile, his New England stoicism, calling me "Kiddo", hikes through the marsh, talking to his family and having me talk to them, his love for his dog, and his boundless energy and love for his work. I am the better person for having known him.
That picture- it says it all.
ReplyDeleteSuch moving posts on your friend's death -- and we will follow, go into the unknown too
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for your loss. But it sounds like your friend left you with the greatest gift.
ReplyDeletea beautiful acknowledgement for a friend man....again, sorry for your loss and hope you have a nice weekend...
ReplyDeleteIm sorry for the loss of your friend, Syd. Thanks for sharing this and for the recent comments you left me.
ReplyDeletePatty
I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. I will keep you and his family in my prayers
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, I'm sorry Syd. He sounds like a good comfortable old friend. Those are hard to find and even harder to lose. ((HUG))
ReplyDeleteMay your memories console you and those who knew him, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry, Syd.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry. It's true that our long time friends are golden treasures. I hope that your memories of times with him will comfort you. God bless you both.
ReplyDeletePeacefully and in the comfort of family - about all any of us can hope for. So sorry for your loss, Syd.
ReplyDeleteI think it's GREAT how the recently deceased visit us in dreams and have messages for us.. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteu can read stuff to em.. after they have 'gone' ..tell them to hold on to the light.. type thing
it helps them navigate
stuff u know inspires them and reminds them of their true nature
Ken wilber wife died of cancer. he is a meditation teacher very famous..
In the last chapter of book grace and grit he says
"I began repeating several of the "pith phrases" from the religious traditions that she considered so important, phrases that she had wanted me to remind her of right up to the end, phrases she had carried with her on her flash cards.
"Relax with the presence of what is," I began. "Allow the self to uncoil in the vast expanse of all space. Your own primordial mind is unborn and undying; it was not born with this body and it will not die with this body. Recognize your own mind as eternally one with Spirit."
another clip..
Treya closed her eyes, and for all purposes, she never opened them again.
My heart broke. Da Free John's phrase kept running through my mind: "Practice the wound of love .. . practice the wound of love." Real love hurts; real love makes you totally vulnerable and open; real love will take you far beyond yourself; and therefore real love will devastate you. I kept thinking, if love does not shatter you, you do not know love. We had both been practicing the wound of love, and I was shattered. Looking back on it, it seems to me that in that simple and direct moment, we both died."
and after she stopped breathing..
"I stayed up that night and read to her until three that morning. I read her favorite religious passages (Suzuki Roshi, Ramana Maharshi, Kalu, St. Teresa, St. John, Norbu, Trungpa, the Course); I repeated her favorite Christian prayer ("Surrender to God"); I performed her favorite sadhana or spiritual practice (Chenrezi, the Buddha of compassion); and most of all I read to her the essential pointing-out instructions from The Book of the Dead. (These I read to her forty-nine times. The essence of these instructions is that, to put it in Christian terms, the time of death is the time that you shed your physical body and individual ego, and become one with absolute Spirit or God. Recognizing the radiance and luminosity that naturally dawns at the time of death is thus to recognize your own awareness as eternally enlightened, or one with Godhead. You simply repeat these instructions to the person, over and over again, with the very likely assumption that their soul can still hear you. And so this I did.)
I may be imagining all this, but I swear that, on the third reading of the essential instructions for recognizing that your soul is one with God, something audibly clicked in the room. I actually ducked. I had the distinct and palpable feeling, at that utterly dark 2:00 A.M., that she directly recognized her own true nature and burned clean. In other words, that she acknowledged, upon hearing, the great liberation or enlightenment that had always been hers. That she had dissolved cleanly into All Space, mixing with the entire universe, just like in her experience as a thirteen-year-old, just like in her meditations, just like she hoped she would upon final death."
Sorry for your loss. What a great legacy to leave though. That you're a better person because of him.
ReplyDeleteStart calling someone Kiddo. He taught you well....tag...you're it.
ReplyDeleteI love the wonderful memories of older mentors. You were good for him too.
Loss is difficult. There is so much to celebrate in memory. I'm glad you put that down in black and white...the celebration of all that you have in memory :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, Syd. You have had quite an emotional year and I hate to see you presented with more grief. May we all cherish our friends while we still have them.
ReplyDeleteKristin H.
This saddens me to think of the time approaching when we will start losing friends.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you can cherish your memories, and that you shared special times.
Greetings from Massachusetts, Syd. I'm sorry for your loss. I am here to pay tribute to my oldest sister who died a few months back so I am in your mind frame. I am trying only to remember the happy times that we shared ... she had so many that were not good to her.
ReplyDeleteOh, isn't life challenging sometimes? It is full of joys and sadness that are sometimes intermingled. It is a blessing to have such a good friend, I'm sorry he passed away.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you thought about him possibly passing away on the fourth. Sometimes our intuition is strong, yes?
Sorry to hear of your friends passing.
ReplyDeleteSpot on in everything you said Syd. May you continue to celebrate his life through your memory of him.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for your loss; may he Rest In Peace...
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry for the loss of your friend. Loss is hard...
ReplyDeleteAw Syd....
ReplyDeleteIm sorry.
((hug))
Christina
I'm so sorry for your loss. I loved what you wrote so true: Life is to damn short for some and too long for others.
ReplyDeletethinking of you.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Thinking of you and his family.
ReplyDeleteGlad you have such wonderful memories of your friend. Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while.
ReplyDeletegreat insight. By the way if anyone is battling with alcoholism check this. I found a great site at sober.com. It’s a safe site coz it’ not selling anything. I just want recovering alcoholics out there to find a comprehensive list of AA meetings just in case you are relocating or searching for an AA meeting in your new place. For the complete list of AA meetings, here’s the link: http://sober.com/aa-alcoholic-anonymous-meetings.html
ReplyDeletesober.com
You well explain about your friend and its sad One day everyone have to face that situation.
ReplyDelete