Life Lessons, Final Thoughts

Thank you for joining me and here are some final thoughts as I moved through this process. I hope this posting finds you well and has brought you insight into my life and the impact of how one event can change your life. I Thank You All for remaining with me through this journey of healing.

My Father was as strong as anyone I had ever known, both Mentally, Physically and Spiritually and it took all of that for him to even survive the first few weeks after his stroke much less live as strongly and with as much optimism and determination as he did.

I am a better man by having had this experience, a better Son, Brother, Uncle, Friend, Lover and Colleague.

I have learned so much in my life from my Father and I now that my Greatest Lessons that he taught me were during this experience that he endured.

Now some of you may wonder how that might be true and others of you may get it instantly.

You see, in addition to what I have previously shared with you, what I also learned from my Father during the last months of his life had to do with will, determination, NEVER EVER Giving Up or Giving In, Giving Your All.

I watched as he endured unknowable pain, mentally, physically and emotionally and he did so with endless amounts of Grace, Humor, Love and Compassion, Yes Compassion for the Other Person, for the people caring for him and for his family knowing what they were having to go through, that was My Father.

He was the most gracious, kind and loving man I have ever known. He would constantly thank everyone that was helping him in any given moment for taking care of him. He wanted to ease what he perceived as their burden or hardships of caring for him and he did so with tremendous humor, love and compassion.

I remember a particularly Challenging moment as an example of this.

It was the morning after we had brought Dad home from the Assisted Nursing Facility and the new night Nurse we had just hired had left to go home.

I went in to check on him and found him lying in filth, it was shocking. It was an exceptionally large mess and it was obvious he had been laying in it for a while. It was clear that the new night nurse had left without changing him and BTW, that was her last day with us.

I can’t even begin to imagine how embarrassing, painful and sad that must have made my father feel.

In-spite of all of that as he watched my Twin Brother and myself changing him, (My brother had just stopped by to spend a few minutes with him and us) he started laughing hysterically, he said Boys, I have now seen it all, I would LOVE to have a picture of this, My sons changing me and doing it together for one of the first times like it was some sort of Rubik’s Cube Challenge, in which it was quite obvious that we had no clue what we were doing, it was the definition of on the job training.

He then proceeded to talk and Laugh us through it, he was Taking care of us, his sons, as he always had and he continued to do so, even in the most challenging of times for him.

As I write this the tears are just pouring from me because that Was my Father, always looking to ease the pain and the burden of others.

It is a privilege and Honor to be his Son and to have had the gift of being able to care for him during his most challenging months.

I Love You Dad, More than I could ever hope to express in words, I know that you are with me now as I write these words, as I have the privilege of sharing a a little bit about you with others.

Thank you for how much you loved me and encouraged me to love and for teaching me to allow God to guide my life, for teaching me to be a loving man of Integrity, courage, compassion, intelligence, wisdom, kindness, peace and generosity.

I know that You will always be with me and MY Dear Father, May you continue to feel and express unconditional love and rest and play with the Angels, we shall all be together one day, I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH, Your Son, G

I’m honored to be able to share with you this powerfully painful and transformational experience and some of the things I continue to learn from them.

I look forward to continuing our conversations about how we can all continue to live a more Loving, Powerful, Passionate, Abundant and Fulfilling Life

In the meantime, please share with us what may have been a moment that changed you in some way and what you learned from that or those experiences.

I look forward to hearing about your experiences and being with you soon…

Until we speak again, May You Continue to Create Your Life as a Masterpiece, Live it as a Work of Art and Make Each Moment An Epic Adventure…

Garrett

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One Response to “Life Lessons, Final Thoughts”

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   August 19, 2010 at 11:49 pm

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