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My Aunt Died Last Night

 
 
Foxfyre
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 08:56 am
@Bi-Polar Bear,
It is perhaps fear of death, but more likely the appreciation of being alive that keeps us alive. Over the years I have taught religious education to every age group, and at some point the question is inevitably asked: How many of you believe in heaven? In most groups the answer is that most do. (It's pretty universal with the kids--there are generally a few skeptics or agnostics among adults.) Next question is: How many believe it is a wonderful place or at least a better place than here? Again most believe that it is. Final question: How many want to go there right now? Nobody ever does. Life has value and most people know that.

Personally I think heaven is simply stepping from this existence into another. I sure hope it isn't the stereotypical pink clouds and folks sitting around strumming lyres all day.

But my image of heaven is certainly preferable to continuing to live here after any positive quality of life is no longer possible. I think your beloved aunt is just fine, and you'll see her again. We'll compare notes then, okay?
0 Replies
 
OmSigDAVID
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 02:52 pm
@Bi-Polar Bear,
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

David I have been up that "tunnel of light " and seen the "other side" a couple of times in my life.... most recently when I was so sick a few years ago... it was a neutral place..neither joyous or frightening... I have described it to squinney as being in a tunnel that was hung top to bottom with thick wet gauze....a real pain in the ass to navigate through...this last time I remember thinking whatever, but I heard family members and felt I needed to be in my hospital room where they were....but I'm not so self centered believe it or not as to think that's what brought me back. I do not wish to die. I personally think that God, and I know believing in God puts me in the unenlightened category....I don't care... allows us to live until we come to grips with the inevitability of death and lose our fear of it....or if seeing we're never going to get it just takes us by surprise.

I continue working on coming to terms with it but I can't imagine the advantage of being dead.

From your posts, u come across as a good guy.
I cant imagine how your parents woud not delight in your company.

Did your near death experiences give u any impression
about whether this trip around is the only one ?

or reincarnation ?

Given eternity, I guess u 'd have plenty of time for it.





David
Cycloptichorn
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 03:05 pm
@Bi-Polar Bear,
Sucks dude, sorry to hear about your loss. Sounds like she had a good life tho.

Cyclotpichorn
0 Replies
 
Bi-Polar Bear
 
  5  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 03:27 pm
@OmSigDAVID,
I have had a great number of "supernatural" experiences in my life... I don't talk about them for more than one reason but certainly one of the main ones is not to open myself up to ridicule...... a lot of the people who have had or seek experiences with the world that exists behind the curtain are pretty out there and the ones who don't believe classify me as out there if I open up so I prefer to keep a lot of that to myself. squinney comes closer to knowing everything about me than anyone and that's the way I expect it will stay.

As far as my parents go neither of them wanted me, not me in particular but a child (or another child) in general and although my mother wasn't a bad woman, she was not interested or emotionally stable enough for parenting and a single mom who sang in bands in the 50's equaled whore...and made me the son of that whore and therefore beneath notice. My dad was just a self centered career criminal who left a trail of broken homes and children in his wake. My aunt, the subject of this thread, took me in but offered me no particular encouragement because she didn't understand the kind of person I was, not because she didn't love me. Her world was crew cuts and high school and college sports and this long haired pre hippie musician was beyond her realm of experience. she did make a damn hard try at it though... and in later years was loving and accepting of me. I don't begrudge any of them their lives...and I'm sorry I kept my mother, a graduate of the New England Conservatory Of Music from pursuing her dreams. I'm no prize winner as a father or a human being...but I've done better than my parents and hopefully my children will do better than me.

I have no idea what happens at the end of this life... but I hope it's one of two things. I hope we either give up consciousness and that's that...or we go to a place where my oldest son in particular can think straight, be shown kindness and be happy and I can observe that and where everyone I love is happy and anything I've done to make them unhappy is erased from their memories. I'd just like a good seat for that. I'd give up my seat for them to get one matter of fact.
Intrepid
 
  2  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 09:01 pm
@Bi-Polar Bear,
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:


...or we go to a place where my oldest son in particular can think straight, be shown kindness and be happy and I can observe that and where everyone I love is happy and anything I've done to make them unhappy is erased from their memories.


That is a wish that is worth wishing and I truly hope that this is the case for all of us.

I am sorry to read of the passing of your beloved Aunt Natalie. Your memories will keep her memory alive.

eoe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 09:47 pm
@Intrepid,
Intrepid wrote:

Your memories will keep her memory alive.


That's a true comfort.
0 Replies
 
boomerang
 
  1  
Reply Tue 25 Nov, 2008 10:19 pm
Reading about your aunt really brought a smile to my face. I think I would have loved her and I'm sorry she's gone but I'm glad she was here.

I join shewolf in thanking her for making you who your are today.
0 Replies
 
mamamia84
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 02:44 am
@Bi-Polar Bear,
This woman is proof that wakes and funerals are for celebrating the life of those departed in body. After you have gone through the grieving process, you will begin to realize that her soul, memories, and feelings that you have for her will remain on this earth as they continue to influence you, and those whom you choose to share her likeness in the way she lived, what she said, and how she treated others. Thus, she will never be truly dead. May peace be with you at this most difficult time.
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 03:56 am
I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Bear.
0 Replies
 
squinney
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 07:04 am
We had Thanksgiving at Aunt Natalie's for all but a few of the past twenty years.

She had boys, who had boys, who have started having boys with a few little girls thrown in but not enough to balance the testosterone. The first year that I attended Thanksgiving, Bear and I had only been married for six or seven weeks. I was not prepared.

Aunt Natalie was warm and welcoming, as was everyone. She was scurrying around in the kitchen preparing food for twenty some people and only one other wife was assisting her. I stayed in the kitchen to help, chat and get to know her. The men folk would pass through on occasion for another beer from the cooler on the back porch or to ask when the crab dip would be ready. Aunt Natalie would receive a peck on the cheek each time this exchange happened as she smiled and answered. Did they even hear the answer as they rushed back to the male conversation in the living room?

Bear would come in the kitchen to talk to Aunt Natalie, tell her a joke, laugh and pop a piece of whatever was close by and almost ready to eat into his mouth before going back to the living room with the boys. I heard loud laughter, old stories, beer cans popping.

It was her house. It was her boys. It was her Thanksgiving. What could I say?
alex240101
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 08:08 am
@Bi-Polar Bear,
My condolences to you Bi-Polar Bear.
I put my money on....heaven.
0 Replies
 
chai2
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 08:09 am
@squinney,
beautiful story squinny. I'm sure Aunt Natalie was in her glory each Thanksgiving day.

simple things are truly the best.
0 Replies
 
Wy
 
  1  
Reply Wed 26 Nov, 2008 09:59 pm
@Bi-Polar Bear,
Bear, please accept my condolences. In many ways, your beloved aunt made you - helped you become - what you are today. And that is a man I have come to respect and enjoy listening to.

Thank you for participating here, and thank you for sharing your sorrow with us. I will remember her in my thoughts.

Wy
0 Replies
 
Joe Nation
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Nov, 2008 06:22 am
So sorry for your loss, Steve and Squinny. I know you will miss her very much.

Reading through this thread has confirmed for me that your family is very lucky to have you as it's patriarch, bear.

Joe(a grizzled survivor of life is always a good patriarch)Nation
Bi-Polar Bear
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Nov, 2008 06:36 am
@Joe Nation,
Thanks for the kind words...I think my family would have been better off with a more level and conventional guy....but I am consistent at least....and I stick around. I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse. I'm not my Aunt more's the pity....but I'm not my own father either and that's a positive.
0 Replies
 
djjd62
 
  1  
Reply Thu 27 Nov, 2008 07:24 am


Tom Morello - Saint Isabell

just heard this song this morning, morello wrote it for a fave aunt of his
unable to travel due to various physical and emotional problems, he was her eyes and ears as he traveled the world, she died in the same room she was born in at the age of 83


0 Replies
 
TTH
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Nov, 2008 01:24 am
Very sorry for your loss Bi-Polar Bear.
0 Replies
 
OmSigDAVID
 
  1  
Reply Wed 3 Dec, 2008 05:02 am
@Bi-Polar Bear,
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

I have had a great number of "supernatural" experiences in my life...
I don't talk about them for more than one reason but certainly one
of the main ones is not to open myself up to ridicule......

a lot of the people who have had or seek experiences with the
world that exists behind the curtain are pretty out there

and the ones who don't believe classify me as out there if I open up
so I prefer to keep a lot of that to myself. squinney comes closer
to knowing everything about me than anyone and that's the way I expect it will stay.

Yes.
My experience in dealing with the public on a professional basis
has revealed that a sizeable proportion of them who DON 'T
have or seek them r delusional as to events and relationships
between and among humans in THIS realm of existence, also.









Quote:

As far as my parents go neither of them wanted me, not me in particular
but a child (or another child) in general and although my mother
wasn't a bad woman, she was not interested or emotionally stable
enough for parenting and a single mom who sang in bands in the 50's
equaled whore...and made me the son of that whore and
therefore beneath notice. My dad was just a self centered
career criminal who left a trail of broken homes and children
in his wake. My aunt, the subject of this thread, took me in
but offered me no particular encouragement because she didn't
understand the kind of person I was, not because she didn't love me.
Her world was crew cuts and high school and college sports and
this long haired pre hippie musician was beyond her realm of
experience. she did make a damn hard try at it though... and in
later years was loving and accepting of me. I don't begrudge any
of them their lives...and I'm sorry I kept my mother, a graduate
of the New England Conservatory Of Music from pursuing her dreams.
I'm no prize winner as a father or a human being...
but I've done better than my parents and hopefully my children
will do better than me.

Well, I hope that we will all succeed in enjoying the future
to the maximum possible degree. As I see it, the value of each
life is how much FUN it created. (and whether u used fonetic spelling)






Quote:

I have no idea what happens at the end of this life...
but I hope it's one of two things. I hope we either give up
consciousness and that's that...or we go to a place where
my oldest son in particular can think straight, be shown kindness
and be happy and I can observe that and where everyone I love
is happy and anything I've done to make them unhappy is erased
from their memories. I'd just like a good seat for that. I'd give up
my seat for them to get one matter of fact.

I can offer this point, on an optimistic note:
some people who have returned from death in hospitals,
died during early infancy: less than a year. As older kids,
or as adults, thay have said that thay REMEMBER the experience
of dying at only a few months of age, and that while their
conscious lives, their minds, were out of their material bodies,
their spirits were in a state of adulthood; thay thought & observed
as adults. This indicates that the limitations upon their minds
originate from their material bodies, some of which are defective,
but after death and abandonment thereof, the animating spirit,
is free of those imperfections. Therefore, it is to be expected
that after the eventual death of your son 's body he will live on
in freedom and perfection.

According to the consensus of former decedents,
at the end of your incarnate life, u will judge the value of
your past life by 2 criteria: Love and Learning.



David
0 Replies
 
Chumly
 
  1  
Reply Sat 31 Jan, 2009 02:17 pm
So very sorry BPB, playing music can be a salve in trying times.
0 Replies
 
 

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