Uplifting Weekend

[KarenH]

I can honestly say that I feel GOOD today after a very depressing summer. I went to Northern Wisconsin to pick up my 14-year-old from camp who has been gone most the summer. (A life-changing experience for him.) Part of the reason I found you guys is I was spiraling into such depresion i had to find someone. It was so lonely and quiet, my house is usually a revolving door of teenagers and there was just no one around. I hated it. The teenagers are back..I've never been so happy to cook and do laundry in my life!

The drive was 5 hours each way and I listened to a fantastic book called "The Five People you meet in Heaven." I think there's a movie, too, but this book was inspiring. It was written by Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) and was pure fiction, his own spin on what might happen in heaven, but the message was that you come to realizations about why things happend in your earthly life and how we are all connected in ways we never knew nor could we know. For me it was uplifting, a kind of spiritual affirmation that yes, I feel cheated that my husband died so young, but somehow it's part of a bigger plan that I may understand some day, even though today it seems so unfair.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a happy-go-lucky story. But I walked away with a little bit of piece after hearing it. The narrator does a wonderful job.

Just wanted to check in with a little bight news...we'll see how long it lasts.

KarenH

[Dusky]

KarenH,

So glad to hear you are having some good days – these times seem to ebb and flow from my experience. And – yes – the book you referenced is excellent “the Five People you meet in Heaven” – you never know which ones are going to be the ones that touch you and add such eventual meaning to your life. I had read that book about a year before Jack died – in retrospect – it does in fact have a healing quality about it.

There is another book that I just finished reading that is very powerful – it is called “Letters to Kate” by Carl Klaus – I am not sure if I have mentioned it in my other post to you – but it is really really good. The man is 70 and he lost his 60-year-old wife suddenly after 37 years of marriage. The book is simply letters he wrote her nearly every day following her death for the first year following her death. It touches on so many of the feelings and emotions that we all go through that first year. I would highly recommend it. When I finished reading it I just sat there and cried – it is truly powerful.

It gave me hope that there truly can be life after such tragic loss. If you read it let me know what you think I literally could not put it down once I opened the first page.

Hope you – and all on here are doing well. I leave for Toronto tomorrow – and will be back in touch after the 25th.

Love and peace to you all – my special extended family.

John – Dusky is my handle on here

Love you Jack

[kayc]

I too have read that and it makes you really stop and think. We all have an affect on each other and the fit into the bigger scheme of things and it's good to be reminded of that from time to time. I'm glad you are feeling better.

[STARKISS]

Hi Karen D,

I too have had a very depressing summer, but I did have a great weekend last weekend. My family had their annual picnic for my mom's side of the family and eventhough both my mom and dad are gone we seemed to have a not so bad time... Take care Shelley