26 to 43
These are the years in which a man is in the prime of his life. If he is fortunate and has no major setbacks in life then this is the time in which most men settle down, marry, work, and have children. I am not saying life ends at 43, just that I myself am 43. How quickly these years have passed, yet how eventful, filled with many happy and a few sad memories. It is strange how some memories linger, a snapshot of time in which the world seems right.
About 16 years ago, my mother, myself, one of my nephews, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and his wife and their baby daughter went on a picnic to Nockamixon state park, in Pa. It was a beautiful summer day. The park itself has a lake, picnic areas, and 3 swimming pools, one for small children, one for diving and one for regular swimming. My cousin, Sterling Hendricks, who is a few years older than myself, is very athletic. While I can do a simple flip he was able to do a flip and a half. I was proud of my cousin that day. My cousins daughter, Alyssa, was about one years old and that vividness of that day made her remain frozen as a baby in my mind and it was always a bit of a shock to know that that baby was now a teenager. In those 17 years since that baby was born I have lived so much of my life that is meaningful and precious.
I remember when I was a child and my grandparents died how I felt sorry for myself. I suppose it is natural being that it is in our nature as the succeeding generation to carry that loss with ourselves and to go forward into the hope of the future. I expect to outlive my parents as I expect my children to outlive me. The grief that we bear is outweighed by the love we have of our children. When I die they will carry my hope of the future with them.
Spoken thusly, life seems simple, but life is never simple. That baby girl, who was a baby girl no longer, died last week at the tender age of 17. When my friend Tommy Dayon died early last month I mourned, mourned as much for his wife and children as for him, but Tommy died as he lived, full of adventure and a legacy that will last for generations. But this loss... how and why she died is not important, only that she did die. With the death of a child there is no going forward and no going back. It fills me with terror, I have two young sons, I can not imagine my life without them. My cousin, my Aunt and Uncle, what can I say?
To even outlive a grown child, the man who dies of a heart attack in his 50's or cancer in his 60's, is tragic enough, but to outlive your own grandchild...
Neil Armstrong lost a two year old child to cancer. Even though he was the first man on the moon, a man who will be remembered as long as man lives to remember, a man who has fame, wealth, and who experienced the greatest adventure in history, just knowing that he lost a child I know I would never want to trade lives with him.
God bless the Hendricks family in this time of need.
About 16 years ago, my mother, myself, one of my nephews, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and his wife and their baby daughter went on a picnic to Nockamixon state park, in Pa. It was a beautiful summer day. The park itself has a lake, picnic areas, and 3 swimming pools, one for small children, one for diving and one for regular swimming. My cousin, Sterling Hendricks, who is a few years older than myself, is very athletic. While I can do a simple flip he was able to do a flip and a half. I was proud of my cousin that day. My cousins daughter, Alyssa, was about one years old and that vividness of that day made her remain frozen as a baby in my mind and it was always a bit of a shock to know that that baby was now a teenager. In those 17 years since that baby was born I have lived so much of my life that is meaningful and precious.
I remember when I was a child and my grandparents died how I felt sorry for myself. I suppose it is natural being that it is in our nature as the succeeding generation to carry that loss with ourselves and to go forward into the hope of the future. I expect to outlive my parents as I expect my children to outlive me. The grief that we bear is outweighed by the love we have of our children. When I die they will carry my hope of the future with them.
Spoken thusly, life seems simple, but life is never simple. That baby girl, who was a baby girl no longer, died last week at the tender age of 17. When my friend Tommy Dayon died early last month I mourned, mourned as much for his wife and children as for him, but Tommy died as he lived, full of adventure and a legacy that will last for generations. But this loss... how and why she died is not important, only that she did die. With the death of a child there is no going forward and no going back. It fills me with terror, I have two young sons, I can not imagine my life without them. My cousin, my Aunt and Uncle, what can I say?
To even outlive a grown child, the man who dies of a heart attack in his 50's or cancer in his 60's, is tragic enough, but to outlive your own grandchild...
Neil Armstrong lost a two year old child to cancer. Even though he was the first man on the moon, a man who will be remembered as long as man lives to remember, a man who has fame, wealth, and who experienced the greatest adventure in history, just knowing that he lost a child I know I would never want to trade lives with him.
God bless the Hendricks family in this time of need.
posted by Unknown at
5:54 PM
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