I was shocked and saddened to hear this morning of the unexpected death of an old acquaintance. For some reason this news has quite shaken me more than I would expect. I've used the word acquaintance rather than friend as we hadn't kept in touch over the years so I guess that doesn't count as friends. We were never 'close' as such, but I saw him almost daily over a fair few years and had always liked him a lot.
I will remember this man as being one of those 'good' folks one meets in life. A dedicated professional who was eminently practical as well as being academically strong, he was a feet-on-the-ground, gently spoken but full of life, caring person with a dry sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye.
One of the things which has shocked me most was the realisation that he was so damn young. He'd not yet reached 50, which makes it somewhat hard to comprehend that he can actually be gone. It seems so very unfair that he'd had so short a time.
This sad news comes on top of a spate of none too positive news in the last week or so about other people (some of whom I do class as friends) who are pretty ill too. I guess this build up of 'bad' means I'm finding today a bit of a challenge and that black dog is sniffing around. So, time to stop and remind myself of what my darling Mum would have advised. That is to count my blessings.
Blessing No.1 - I have my health and I am lucky that I still have many of the people I love (my darling supportive and loving hubby and a super sister who I'll see very soon) around me.
Blessing No.2 - the sun is shining and the birds sang this morning.
Blessings No.3 onwards are manifold. I do know that, but just haven't quite got them straight in my head yet... However I will, because I know those blessings ARE there - I just need to see them properly.
Aristotle may have phrased things slightly differently when he said
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light”
but the basic idea is the same.
18 September 2014
Sadness
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2 comments:
My Mother, who is a pretty positive person generally, has noticed the same. Now that she's entering her "Golden Age", as she calls being over 65 years old, funerals, supporting ill friends and neighbours is a regular occurance. She said one of the things that keeps her positive is knowing she's made healthy lifestyle changes (mostly) to make sure her quality of life is the best it can be.
Certainly keep counting your many blessings to keep that black dog at bay!!
Thanks Nikki - your Mum sounds a lovely person (her daughter is too).
Making those healthy lifestyle changes is a definite plus. Sadly, I'm also an inveterate backslider and need the odd hard kick in the pants!
What I didn't confess to was that things really got to me in the afternoon and I suddenly found that I'd started to dive into jar of nut butter - comfort eating again, dammit!
Thankfully, a couple of spoons in I realised what the hack I was doing and stopped it. The damage could have been a whole lot worse, but it stood to remind me just how vigilant I must be - especially when things get 'emotional', for whatever reason.
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