Monday

LOSS – A Sure Thing

                    [Photo Source: GOOGLE online images]



So many things one encounters in LIFE'S JOURNEY are chancy.  I've heard it said that the only things 'for sure' are death and taxes.  Well, I've another that could be added to that list of 'for sures' – LOSS. 

Below is a short prose that I found on the internet by an unknown author.  It says in so many words how one can misplace the value of something, albeit -- grandparents, parents, spouse, children, friends, pets, health, wealth, youth, beauty, eye sight, hearing, limbs , mobility, independence, freedom, faith, trust, love -- the list is endless.

What would YOU put on YOUR LIST?

Submitted by:  Dorothy Hazel Tarr






To realize
The value of a sister / brother --
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years --  
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years --  
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year --  
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months --  
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month --  
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week --  
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute --  
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one second --  
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

To realize
The value of a friend or family member --  
LOSE ONE.

Time waits for no one --
Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when --
You can share it with someone special.

Remember....
Hold on tight to the ones you love as long as you can! 



Below are just some closing thoughts – just some one-liners really – make of them what you will!

The JOURNEY ahead is shorter with each passing MOMENT! 

ONE day – all too soon, it will only be a treasured memory!

Love conquers all and overcomes all obstacles.  Or, so some would have you believe.

Gains and loss are part of MOTHER NATURE's grand design. 

When I plant seeds in my garden, I gain a bountiful harvest.  The seed is lost, when the plant grows.  The bounty is lost, when the harvest is gathered.

My childhood dreams were lost, when I realized adolescence.

My dreams of a family are lost, when I got divorced.

My dreams of being a grandparent were lost, when my daughter "sided" with my ex-spouse.

I hope I live long enough to LOVE again.

You are still in my life --  NO, NOT REALLY!

You are out of my life --  NO, NOT YET!

The art of losing is not hard to master -- I practice my "art" each day.

The stages of loss and recovery overlap, but each stage is necessary and a natural part of the healing process.  BUT, I have been in the "healing process" for years!!

I sit in a corner of my mind and cry until I am numb thinking how much I have missed.

I will know when I am ready to move on with my life -- when I accept that life without you is possible.

The only difference in my recovery from one loss or another loss, is the time it takes for me to heal and the depth of pain I feel from the loss.

My healing has a beginning, middle, and maybe an end.  However, the middle is overwhelming me these past many years!

Daily I ask myself, "Am I strong enough to bear the loss of your love?"  The answer is, "Well, you made 'til morning, again!"

There was nothing to do when I lost your love, just accept it and hurt—for years!  Will the hurt never end?!

Some say misery loves company, and mutual suffering eases the pain.  However, friends and family do not have the patience to extend support and encouragement when my JOURNEY of healing has taken over 40 years!

Will I ever love again?  Will love ever find me again?  Will I ever feel "good" again?

The good part of my pain is that it is proof that I am still alive and am surviving.

My loss of love frightens me and feels like a bottomless pit of hopelessness.

I try to run away from the feelings of hurt, desolation, and isolation, but I cannot bury them deep enough, for they emerge with the FIRST Country-and-Western song I hear.

I punish myself with the "if only's".

I cannot forget that I LOVE YOU!

I cannot forget that YOU NO LONGER LOVE ME (if you ever did).

The greater the loss, the more time it takes to heal.  My loss was over 40 years ago, and I am still testing the healing timeline "rule".

My healing these past 40 years since the loss of your love, has been full of ups and downs, leaps forward in the healing, and huge depressing backslides into despair.

The memories of loving you are painful and destructive to my peace of mind.

Before I can progress through this "healing", I have to first get "out of love" with you, which will NOT happen in my lifetime!

I place my hands on my heart and abdomen when they are in turmoil and just try to take deep breaths in slowly and exhale fully.

I take lots of naps and rest a lot, for I cannot sleep because of my dreams of you.

My research into my Family Origins and History help me maintain a sense of structure and order, and give me a feeling of being "connected" again.

I work until late at night on my genealogy on ANCESTRY, until I am exhausted and tired enough to fall asleep and hope I find my dreams are NOT NIGHTMARES!

My plan NOW is to "get over you"; tomorrow I will survive and "move on".

Nothing was as important to me as you were, although at the time I remember thinking that I had so many other important things to accomplish and get done.

GOD let me lean on you until I can stand alone, PLEASE!

I place my hands over my heart when it "hurts", and say to myself, "I am here for you.  I love you."

All the goodness of my life is gone, first you and our daughter, then joy, freedom, and security -- I live in the shadows still.

Holidays are the worst sort of torture without you and our daughter and grandchildren.

These feelings of separateness and isolation will pass, and I WILL get better -- Won't I?

My garden is full of color and blooms, but it is also full of weeds and thorns, and insects.

Before I can experience the happiness of healing, I have to traverse the pathways of pain of separation, rejection, loss of love, and divorce.

My future offers the temptations of rediscovering life, friends, self, and maybe a new LOVE.

I am tempted and want to "skip" the mourning and grieving process, but I know that the only way to recovery is to go "through" each stage of the healing process.  However, 40 years is a long time!  If I do not go "through" the process completely, I know the pain and grief can return later.  Still, 40 years is a long time!

Grief has been "quiet" for a time and I thought it was "done"; NOW, it has returned years later to destroy and threaten my life.

As I look NOW at my hurts and loss, I wonder whether my current situation has reactivated any prior and unhealed losses, and whether old wounds have been reopened that never fully healed.

 [dht]

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