Sad and Lonesome Day
And those who dance, begin to dance
Those who weep begin
And "Welcome, welcome" cries a voice
"Let all my guests come in." - Leonard Cohen
I'll be taking some time away. My mother is in the final days of her terminal cancer, so I need to be attending to family. I don't mean to solicit sympathies by announcing this, but I thought I should explain the nature of the emergency since we also have a newborn.
I'll be updating early next week, and here's a little good news in the meantime: I'll be adding streaming radio. Since music plays an inspirational part here, I thought a Live365 station would make an appropriate addition. (And I'm not overdoing the Dylan, I promise.)
posted by Jeff Wells at 3:00 a.m.
58 Comments:
"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's where the light gets in"
Condolences, Jeff, expressed as only Cohen can. My own mother has been "dying" from Alzheimer's for years. Life is tough, and then you die. A belief in a benign afterlife is a good thing to cultivate - I hope you have that spark of comfort - that crack of "imperfection" in the night.
As to the radio; how about a playlist request thread over on the message board?
Anonymous Pants Elk
Please accept my prayers and warmest regards to your Mom from your community here.
You are doing a wonderful thing and she should know that, after all - she made you what you are...
.You carry on her very being in yourself and your newborn.
Please know that she in you will be in all our prayers.
When the angels come for her, be at peace -- they will take care of her.
Seventhson
I'm so sorry for your mom's suffering and your imminent loss. Please take care.
Best wishes, and condolences.
In my own case, it took three years or so to learn to live without her. Be prepared for that. Be strong. Children of the parents are the future.
It takes the rest of a lifetime to learn to live with the loss of a parent. For many of us it's been bereavement, for others here a sort of liberation. But whatever the situation, it's big and complex. Take care of yourself while you take care of others, and make sure they take care of you too in their way.
May you and your mother both encounter the grace and wisdom that can be hidden within this passing.
May God bless you and your mother. My prayers for you both, and all your family.
Carry on, no explanations necessary, I too render my condolences in your time of sorrow.
I think we get two wake-up calls; births and deaths.
Take care and take your time, Jeff. I'll be thinking of you and yours.
Many sympathies and good wishes.
Since you're so well informed I take it that the 'miracle' cures of raising your body's PH levels don't work after all...
Take care.
(but, there is nor such thing as overdoing Dylan...)
Life and death, are merely twoaspects of the same reality.
My thoughts are with you and your family
So sorry, and take care for you and yours.
Lucky
I'm so sorry, Jeff. Let us know if there's anything at all we can do.
Fearless
Death is a part of life,but it still stinks.
Tell her we all say "thanks" for bringing you into this world and providing you with the tools to impact it.
May Universe bless and guide her soul.
Best wishes, Jeff. I'm not the praying kind, but my thoughts are with y'all. I wish I had a few lines from a poet or a song to share, but my mind is blank. Thanks for finding the time to do this blog despite the things that are happening in your life. What you do makes a difference.
Thats pants mate, take it easy.
Sad news, Jeff. May the embrace of these mysteries be gentle.
Namaste.
Ah, the great continuum of re-arrival...continuing...in our achingly beautiful whirled without end...
How happy that your mum got to stay here until her new grandbaby arrived to play. May your mother’s immediate days be spent as comfortably as possible, Jeff, and may you and your family draw all the comfort you need from one another, and from the loving thoughts coming your way from us others, as you prepare to both celebrate her life, and miss her earthly presentce.
what gifts she has leaved!
Sincere condolences, Jeff.
Please accept my condolences, as well.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
"Take a walk young man
and leave the programmed ground.
I wonder if you've noticed all the
vacuumed up time."
Jeff,
Thank you for all you'ved done for me and my community. My best to you in a difficult time.
I'm so sorry, Jeff. I cannot believe all that you have done and continued to do, despite what was going on in your life. You are a true inspiration and your mother can take great pride that her son is making such a difference in the world. I believe that we will be reunited with our loved ones eventually and you will see your mother again someday.
May she leave this earth peacefully, and may you find comfort in the presence of your family and friends, including all of us here who have gotten to know and care about you through the keyboards and monitors of our computers.
Jeff,
Our prayers are with you and your family.May she go in peace.
aj
My deepest sympathies, Jeff.
In this complicated time of darkness and light, sorrow and joy, I wish for you the gifts of peace and balance. Life goes on, as it must, as one soul arrives, and now, another must depart.
May your mother pass through the veil quickly and painlessly.
My best regards,
Morgan
Yet I, whose lids from infant slumber
Were earlier raised, remain to hear
A timid voice, that asks in whispers,
'Who next will drop and disappear?"
The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.
He who has ears to hear...
Take care of business, Jeff.
Do what you must, and thanks for your blog.
And may you be blessed by whatever takes place in your life.
Nothing better than a new baby. The little one will help get you through. Sending you wishes for peace and less pain for your mother, and some good sleep for you and the new mama. Thanks for your blog, and good luck.
I've been there, Jeff. It's a tortured blessing. There's much to learn from it. It's her final lesson for you.
Friend Jeff,
Would that words could soften the blow.
Take heart, that with your mother's imminent passing, the end of her suffering is also near.
With your guidance, your child will grow to help make the world a better place.
Peace
sometime we learn to just say "ok Lord" and without total understanding we can stll have faith that His plan is fail proof. My prayers are with you and the family thank you for the insightful blog you are and icon and inspiraion to many. i an many others who have awaken to certain truths that you have posted and even he ones that have been staring us in the face the whole time thank you for your bold inspiration.
Well, That insipid list of sympathy that you all feel compelled to gush ( even after being instructed by jeff NOT TO ) just goes to show how empty you all are of any real understanding. Death is INEVITABLE. For everyone. There are no lessons in it. It is a biological certainty. The goals we set are temporary constructs to pass the time until we poof out of existance. The creatures that inhabit the many dimensions around us know it, why don't we? Maybe holding onto the idea of an imaginary realm where we re-appear after dying helps soften the truth. I think everyone needs to see death for what it is and stop baby sitting everyones feelings of fear. We have much bigger issues to sort out while we live, dammit.
'The passage through the vague abysses would be frightful, for the Walpurgis-rhythm would be vibrating, and at last he would have to hear that hitherto-veiled cosmic pulsing which he so mortally dreaded. Even now he could detect a low, monstrous shaking whose tempo he suspected all too well. At Sabbat-time it always mounted and reached through to the worlds to summon the initiate to nameless rites. Half the chants of the Sabbat were patterned on this faintly overheard pulsing which no earthly ear could endure in its unveiled spatial fulness. ' H.P.Lovecraft
Nice one, Gilman.
I'm always amazed how some people aren't embarrassed by their own words.
Gilman,
How sad your world must be. From your words, you're in as dire straights as our Jeff.
May Universe reveal herself to you.
I'm so sorry Jeff. My prayers are with you and your family.
With love,
Mary C.
Get a grip Gilman.
Jeff, I'm sorry for what you and your family are going through.
[De-lurking]
Sincerest condolences and best wishes for you and your family. Your many friends here will be thinking of you. I hope your mother's passing is as gentle as it can be.
Oh, Ok, I'll fall down now and worship some invisble ghostly being and hope that all my naughty thoughts are swiped away by the spooky powers of ( insert-inert diety here ).
'And crawling on the planets face, some insects called the human race, lost in time and lost in space, and meaning'
The Narrator
Just found out that my Mother has lung cancer, so I certainly sympathize with you . My prayers go out to you and yours.
Meanwhile, by all means, overdo the Dylan.
What a wonderful invention it is, this thing we call the Internet!
My dear friend I can see your face so clearly
A little bit tired a little warn through the years
And You sound nervous you seem alone
I hardly recognize your voice on the telephone
In between I'd remember
Just before we wound up broken down
We'd drive out to the edge of the highway
Follow that lonesome dead end roadside sound
We're all in this thing together
Walking the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry, I taste the salt in your tears
Well my friend let's put this thing together
And walk the path that warn out feet have trod
Cause if you want it we can go home forever
Give up your jaded ways, spell your name to God
We're all in this thing together
Walking the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry, I taste the salt in your tears
All we are is a picture in the mirror
Fancy shoes to grace our feet
And all there is a slow road to freedom
Heaven above and the devil beneath
We're all in this thing together
Walking the line between faith and fear
This life don't last forever
When you cry, I taste the salt in your tears
"We're All In This Thing Together" - Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Old Crow Medicine Show
Listen here
Time 01:52:08
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2004/09/25/
No tears, no regrets, Jeff. Celebrate the end of her suffering. Lost mine two years ago; you have my honest empathy.
Sincerely,
Donovan
Come and check it out if you get the time 8-)
Many years ago as a young woman I too had to face the final chapter in a parent's life. As I grieved for my loss a very wise Grandmum reminded me that the human body was only half of the partnership between body and soul. While the body may wither away, the soul continued on. And with that it mind, she suggested that we should do as the ancients, lifting a glass and voice in celebration of the physical life and wishing safe passage of the soul into another realm of being.
May her travels from this world to another pass peacefully. Be comforted in the knowledge that she will always be with you in spirit.
Peace
Gyweith Awel
Mother ain't dead
She's only a sleepin
Patiently waiting
for Jesus to come.
Long John Baldry and Rod Stewart doing the trad thing.
God/Allah/Big Cheese/The Universe Bless ya, Jeff.
October 2005
Timothy Noah: Santorum's Mighty Wind, Part 2. 09/27/05 David Segal: How Gotti Jr ... Illinois Senator Barack Obama looks at the lefty blogosphere's strident vilification of the 22 Democrats who voted to confirm John Roberts to the Supreme Court and doesn't like what he sees.
I'm just looking around and found you....nice little blog it is too :-).. most of my time goes on my Adware related site Adware is my passion...lol
So, what's going on? Does Jeff usually dump the kind of junk posts that are now blighting this blog, but because he's taken a break, they're free to annoy and irritate those of us who take this blog seriously?
What is going on???
Jeff,
A poem you may find comforting:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
ee cummings
By the way, looks like your comments section is under attack by spambot... lots of "look at my blog" posts....
Thoughts are with you.
jennifer
Jeff, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
A new baby, and now a life crisis. I will pray for Providence to guide you and give you strength and solace.
Someone is taking advantage and spamming Jeff's blog while he is away. You people ought to be ashamed.
Great blog by the way. I just thought you'd like to know that as far as overcome fear of public speaking plano tx is concerned I have a site that may be of interest at:
overcome fear of public speaking plano tx.
re: anonymous@5:37
i hate you
Being of an age that is fast losing many of those of the generation before me, I feel as if my comforting family umbrella is developing holes with each loss. I wish that we all could step in and shelter you from the storm, but I fear that we would all crash as we rush in, landing in a muddy heap at your feet.
chigger
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