It was tough hearing two of my old golf buddies, half of our foursome of years ago, are in nursing homes. Damn ;(
I'm determined to fight with everything I've got to avoid that certain eventual definite transformation, and it hurts to hear this news still a few days later, however I must let it motivate me to work even harder at gaining the upper hand on my health at every single cost, or there will be nothing more... which, in time, I will too accept.
I love these guys, and although life went in different directions, my love never waned nor departed.
Mike and Robbie, I thank you for guiding me in a lost struggle of early manhood, helping me to find some footing and guiding me towards soaring to my own heights. I pray to are blessed and depart sooner than later that you may suffer little more, and hold a tee time for me and Rich.
Rich is 71, and he us still Rich!
I sat alone after talking to Rick for the first time in 22 years, I believe. Unchanged and as active and lively as ever. He too was, and certainly still is and will be, another of my guides that's been completely instrumental too, as they, and it felt great to chit chat face to face at the picnic. It was light and heavy hearted all at once. It took my energy and made me in an instant shy.
I departed to a lone picnic table, isolated.
I sat there a while. I needed to. I cried and laughed and took pictures and watched everybody that I missed so long before my eyes again, and this time in my own back yard of youth too. A marriage of two pasts, oddly.
Now, a marriage of my futures finally emerging to reveal the greater gifts so offered on this journey.
My Father, who I just visited, will be 89 this Saturday, and the stars have aligned that he will visit me here at my home in Cumberland, and in so happy to say alongside my brother and his son, my nephew. I'm looking forward to these upcoming times. I barely made it to this place, and it's this community that saved me and let me get to share this extra gift, on top of the gift that life is surely already truly so verily is.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles brought me here. An organization whose motto is, "People Helping People". I knew this was home the first time I came in to the city, with my friend Robbie, also later confirmed as my cousin too!!! and again, my friend of two so mentioned above.
That first time driving into town I didn't hear a voice but, " i heard a voice", if you know what I mean and it said you are going to live here. It was only one block away from my house and of course I didn't own the house I live in and that I'm writing in at that time. The hospital that saved my life is right down the street now also and it wasn't there either.
My friends are suffering on their way out but they brought me to a place that saved my life. They were suffering in their own ways back then when we were best buddies and playing golf and working actively together in service and they would bring me to a better place at those times too.
I'm really tired of feeling so desperately helpless but at the same time I'm thankful you know through my own experience that the transformation that is coming is an incredible and exciting journey and nothing to fear but it's nothing to rush either ever.
I don't have all kinds of answers but I guess we all find a fitting end and of course it doesn't look that way from the perspective here but once you're over there on the other side you'll understand. Pain doesn't last forever and you will never know it again after this physical realms existence. You only know of it.
In my world online through Facebook I see two groups of friends where I grew up and where I am living today and that group is starting to overlap which is very fascinating and so are my artistic / musical friends. It's not just my life that's going in that direction because of me it's my life in general and everything around me that has a flow and we are all in a current headed towards the same Destiny and that is a beautiful thing to know because I have been surrounded by some of the most beautiful and inspiring people that I've ever even read about much less to know and to know that we are all going to get to know another makes me want to live for every second I can get. Never selfishly, into only selflessly.
I pray others will understand and appreciate the same type of sentiment and spirit, as when we are all able to appreciate life, we can continue to share it even longer together.
The facts today or that we have the largest retirement community in recorded history heading into retirement and we must let these people out with great amount of self pride remaining intact and with great love and caring and compassion. We must learn from this terrible time we suffer now as this narcotic epidemic or illicit chemical epidemic is Awash upon us, and the lessons here is that we need to stop forgetting about those in our community that are suffering and instead of shunning them we need to learn to embrace them and hold them even closer and safer and that might mean jail or prison and that might mean a mental institution and all of those things should mean another step closer to help and sharing Humanity that we would like to return that population to but we must isolate ourselves from when they remain an imminent and unpredictable threat, as we of an organized society that respect the Law and Order demand.
Where there's an infant without love there is a problem that is growing Roots deep.
Where there is not structure in any part of life, there's time that goes without production or usefulness or mindfulness or of good to the spirit.
The systems have evolved to the place they have today because hidden Society we have learned that thus far this is what bears the finest fruit for the majority and until there are more fruitful systems then we shall remain in this holding pattern of which today we are quickly emerging into a completely new era but many will not realize it until we are well into it.
We have now and Industrial Age where we don't even need to retool but we can design on Cad and maybe even have machine learning artificial intelligence design that can print parts or and Tire Machines and evolve a line of products through from conception flea market through use and the steps necessary 2 increase efficiency in marketability where quality should never be sacrificed. We should not waste raw materials making inferior products because that is time spent that should have been spent making more useful products that are long lasting. Consumer society today that makes everything disposable is wonderful for capitalism but it's terrible for Mother Earth and makes us poor stewards and we must re-evaluate the way we use our raw materials in our time so consumed so that we find a better balance and still maintain growth in the market places at even higher rates because we are going to facilitate even better ways. Every time I see a place for what others think of essay restriction, I think of an entirely new budding Marketplace and that is like fireworks for my brain that seems to conjure up stuff in its mind like a quantum computer on steroids. Full of more thought than one can imagine mostly in a lifetime my mind can Blast Off in a million different directions in an hour.
I know my friends are still inside, Robbie retiring as an estimator for a Sheet Metal Manufacturing company and Michael having retired after a professional career as an educator teaching mathematics. Two Men I have such great respect for his bodies must be failing, and I've only heard because I have not seen them as I only just found this out.
I think of Timothy Leary's book along with ROM Dass and one other colleague which I can't think of his name right now, and essentially it's a translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead End of many of the lessons held within one of the most important things to carry away is that we must be good stewards not just to Mother Earth but we must absolutely Master being good stewards to helping our elders out easily. They need not suffer anymore any longer and I'm not saying that we should in their lives sooner as that should be fully up to them oh, but we must show them love and that is time spent with them. There is no substitute. Life doesn't always afford this for your own loved ones or it might really truly hurt you emotionally and affect your heart for real as I can attest to, however there are other loved ones of your friends and we all need each other and it not just takes a village to raise a child, but a village to say farewell also.
These jaunts to Washington DC and Alexandria, Virginia from Cumberland and back and forth really always make me think so deeply in so very much because I go from one polar opposite to the other and in only a span of 150 miles.
I'm very happy to see Cumberland finally coming into this Century instead of being left behind and almost completely forgotten in the past, however I'm unsure if by the time we catch up we won't be behind again because by the time we would be catching up to would be now, and now and the rest of the world might be 20 or 30 years that they get ahead and I hope you can understand where I'm coming from by this kind of comical but serious statement none the less. There is all kinds of vision, and foremost it's short or non-existent. You have long distance vision. Even fewer are really truly visionary. I pray mini Visionary leaders will step up here because Cumberland should be the green capital of the United States of America setting the example for what a small community is and should be and why it should remain that way and show how we can be self-supporting and also embracing of capitalism that is growing in our community where large corporations are investing heavily here right now as we upgrade and replace infrastructure at a pace unseen around here for ages. The state-of-the-art high school in the hospital or two huge draws to this area and why people want to move here now and you should come visit and stay at Rocky Gap Casinno & Resort, or one of our other new hotels like the Hampton Inn or the Marriott Downtown or pick from the boutique hotel that's coming in the future and some other planned hotels at the Rolling Mills business District, or check out even the local breweries that we have two of and more on the way it looks like... really just exciting things happening all around here like every Sheetz has been rebuilt and we have a beautiful Love's truck stop. An incredible Planet Fitness. I don't know why anybody would want to live anywhere else plus we don't have any traffic.
Ultimately, I'm just happy that family will be visiting and I didn't mean to make this about Cumberland but part of it is and it's a huge part and I'm just thankful that I trusted my intuition and came here even though it's always been a struggle for me health-wise. I was right where I was supposed to be and I'm still here because of that.
I'm thankful for my friends were somehow guiding me here because it's all just kind of strange coincidence but that's not how I see it I see that it's destiny. I've never questioned any of that I've always thought that that is just a part of the way it is supposed to be and I trust in that.
