You just have to know where to look

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Trust me – this is all true.

Around 7:40 last night, I got the news my sister had given birth to a 9lb 3oz girl. Not quite an hour later, I learn that this board has lost Wally. I didn’t know Wally well, but I knew him well enoguh to like him.

It started to rain as I drove home from my parents’ house. I parked my car and as I was about to take off running for the door, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t played in the rain for 15 years; the nostalgia doubtlessly brought on by to extremely different pieces of news in so short a time period. It wa a steady downpur, but not a hard driving rain and the wind wasn’t bad, so I tilted by head back and caught some raindrops in my mouth. The rain was coming down well enough that I was already prtty well soaked. I could not at this point justify any hurry to get indoors, so I went for a walk.

This wasn’t an aimless, lost-in-thought walk, but the kind of leisurely stroll a person would take on a sunny spring morning. I took in all the sights around me, studying everything my sight fell on. I took off my shoes and socks and walked barefoot through the wet grass, trying to remember the irresistable attraction rainy days and puddles used to have on me as a child and why I let the attraction fade.

I was soaked clean through by now and about 2 blocks from home. I turned to go back and so two trees, about 15 yards apart. The branches of the trees came together forming an arch. Bushes grew under and around the trunks. About five feet behind the trees and slightly off center to the left was a streetlamp for an apartment complex parking lot. The lamp itself was obscured by the trees’ limbs, but the light bounced off everything under this natural archway. The individual raindrops flashed through the light, looking like a meteor shower. The green of the bushes sprang into life. I found myself staring at the scene. It was beautiful, made all the more beautiful by its existence in the unlikely location of an apartment complex parking lot.

On a bleak, depressing, ugly night I found beauty in the most mundane of places. You just have to know where to look.

2

Congratulations, Uncle Bratman. And a great post. It’s funny how these things work… My cousin was born on the day her (and my) grandmother died. In hindsight, not more than 20 minutes after she died.

Eary.

3

Thanks, Coldfire. I like your new sig. I’m thinking of changing mine, but I’m not sure to what. I just hope since so many people are upset about our loss of Wally that they read my post and remember to see the good things through the bad.

4

congrats Brat. Hope your life is filled with that small bundle of happiness :slight_smile:

5

Congrats Uncle Brat.

6

When my brother died my parents were broken up, my other brothers were broken up, but I, while sad, was not nearly so broken up. Why? Because I had three small children occupying my time. Children too young to understand death and pushing me out of depression with their own happiness and needs. Reminding their sad dad that life does, indeed, go on.

I’m still a newbie, and didn’t know Wally well. I know I won’t miss him like so many of you will. But I am sad about his passing because of what it means to you folks, people I like and respect. There won’t be another person like him. But Brat, you have found that the cliche is true. Life goes on and there are always wonders to be found if you know where to look. Or know how to look. Or just have your eyes and heart open to see the magic that is all around us.

7

Nicely said, dropzone. Thanks. I know not everyone here is religious, but it’s at the times such as the one I mention in the OP, when you unexpectedly find something that touches you, when I truly feel there is a plan. I just haven’t been let in on what it is yet.

8

A little more than a year ago, my grandmother died, the day before my sister-in-law gave birth to our family’s much-anticipated new baby. The circle of life never, never stops turning, and, to steal a Rush lyric, “the spark still flies, reflected in another pair of eyes”.

I’ve had similar moments and experiences, and just wanted to say that I enjoyed your post very much, Brat.