Remembering my Father

My Dad has been gone a month and a day now and I am fluctuating daily between overwhelming grief and joy with all the happy memories that I have. One memory is when I went to visit him back in April and he was reading the poem, O Captain! My Captain by Walt Whitman. He asked me if I knew what it was about and while I had some idea of the poem’s meaning, I knew it wasn’t to the extent that he did. He went on to explain that it was about how Walt Whitman felt about the death of Abraham Lincoln because of his love and admiration for him. He then went on to read the poem. It was beautiful.

I just re-read the poem yesterday, and as I think about it, it reflects how I feel about my father’s passing. In God’s hands he will rest, in my heart he will live forever.
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O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

From the Quote of the Week Files; October 26, 2009

Welcome to the place to go to where you can get timeless wisdom at bargain basement prices ~ The Quote of the Week!
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“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.”

James M. Barrie
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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

"Do not ask what the world needs. Instead, ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.”

Thurmond Whitman
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week Files, October 19, 2009

Welcome to the Quote of the Week! This week's quote is a verse from an old inspirational song, Keep on the Sunny Side of Life. I've also included a short history of the song, the lyrics and for your listening pleasure, a link to the song! Enjoy!
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Keep on the sunny side,
always on the sunny side.
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day,
it will brighten all the way
If we keep on the sunny side of life.

Ada Blenkhorn
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"Early in Ada Blenkhorn's life, she was given the task of caring for an invalid nephew who always wanted his wheel chair to be pushed 'down the sunny side of the street.' His constant repetition of this phrase inspired her to write the gospel Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life. [1899]
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Keep on the Sunny Side

There's a dark and a troubled side of life
There's a bright and a sunny side, too
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[chorus]
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

Tho' the storm in its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherished so dear;
Storm and cloud will in time pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.


Let us greet with a song of hope each day
Tho' the moments be cloudy or fair
Let us trust in our Saviour alway
Who keepeth everyone in His care
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A link to the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIcb9xWnr8s&feature=related
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Here's to keeping on the Sunny Side!
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week Files, October 12, 2009

Welcome to the Quote of the Week. Your presence, exactly as is at this very moment, is greatly appreciated.
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"Life is a constantly morphing thing. Just when you think you know where it's all headed you wake up the next morning to a completely different view. The landscape has changed along with the seasons, but the trees are the same trees, only your view has changed. So you try to cling to the old things that used to comfort you, clinging to the familiar, but they provide little or no solace. The fears do not subside. At this point we have no choice but to surrender to the unknown.

that is where the real beauty lies.

It is not in the knowing, the familiar, the expected. But in the embracing of the unknown. a willingness to walk down a new path and to trust that everything is as it should be. perfect. as it is.

Schopenhauer said,"When you look back on your life, it looks as though it were a plot, but when you are into it, it's a mess: just one surprise after another. Then, later, you see it was perfect."

Sometimes there are little glimpses of the perfection, amidst the mess. It is at those times we feel blessed beyond measure."

Keri Smith
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A Recycled Quote of the Week Classic...

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."

T.S. Eliot
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

From the Quote of the Week Files, October 5, 2009

Welcome to the Quote of the Week. A place where you can fight the daily grind with an eclectic mix of inspirational quotes from the world's great thinkers!
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"Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world."

Laozi (Tao Te Ching)
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A Recyled Quote of the Week Classic...

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

Eric Hoffer
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!

A Quote of the Week; With Sadness; September 28, 2009

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle—face it; 'tis God's gift.

Be strong!
Say not, "The days are evil. Who's to blame?"
And fold the hands and acquiesce—oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day how long;
Faint not—fight on! To-morrow comes the song.

Maltbie Davenport Babcock
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A couple of months ago my father read me the above poem. It was a beautiful reading even though he struggled through it a bit because, as some of you know, has Alzheimer's Disease. This Sunday morning (27 September) my Father’s life quietly and peacefully came to an end as he was surounded by his children. We are happy that he is now in hands of god and that he is with my mother and all his loved ones who have passed before him. While sad, I am also comforted by the fact of how my sisters and I were able care for him in his final hours making his passing all the more beautiful.

I would like to dedicate this poem to my Dad. In God’s hands he will rest, in my heart he will live forever.
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Wishing you a most beautiful day, wherever this may find you!