Patrick, as Lugnut you emailed me spontaneously with the fruit of experience I could not have imagined getting in the normal course of events.
I remember exchanging ideas with you on another thread and I felt privileged to be doing so. Thanks for inspiring this one. I suppose we never know exactly how we will do good! The love here can be felt by anyone who reads it. God bless you and keep you. |
I've been touched by the posts about forgiveness. You started it, Pat ! Thank you so much for your own story. Amen, Jmcgrogan2, to "life's too short to be carrying around all that anger." It's taken me a while to accept that my story, with its consequences for the way I see things, is a mighty part of what makes me who I am.
Two writers and teachers who I feel have helped me are Byron Katie and the late Anthony de Mello.
One thing I've found is that forgiveness makes it easier to hear music... |
That is one great picture. You guys are gorgeous. Yes, I mean the couple shot... ;o) |
Pat, you are not the only one whose decision has been to forgo chemo and its consequences; my late stepmother did the same. I am sure she never regretted it. I believe the decision is a brave and true one and it touches me. Love, blessings and music to you. |
Such offer is un-pass-uppable. Only damage control is possible (wear extra pair underwear when hug foreseen). Love the posts, Pat. Thinking of you daily. |
Pat, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad to read all the news you see fit to print. Everything you have shared here has been welcome to me. Even the stuff about cars. There are clearly difficult moments now. I send all my good wishes and prayers, and I am continually inspired by your example. |
Hi Pat, it's great to hear about the fun and no less of anything that ain't. I love this thread, thanks to all for keeping it up. For small monitors, I liked the Triangle Titus Es a lot when I heard it recently. In a higher price range, I owned a pair of Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 SE's for about a month and just hated to see them go. The buyer loves them enough to have become an audio buddy. All the very best, Toby |
Very sorry to have condescended to the late Mr. Webb Ellis. His spontaneous gesture created the game, of course. Whether it was against the rules or not is somewhat moot, since if I understand the game's history correctly, there were even fewer rules at that time than today... gee, Pat, sounds like rugby might actually be up your alley (as well as mine) :-)
Congratulations on the honorary membership and have a great time in Dallas! |
Pat, I had no idea I was hobnobbin' with a Springbok... lemme buy you a cold one. I went to the school where the game was invented. A plaque on one of the old brick walls is dedicated to the thick-headed schoolboy footballer "who first picked up the ball in his arms and ran with it", thus inventing the game of Rugby football.
You might explain to any cowboys you run into while playing the noble game that as long as it's in your arms, there's no need to shoot the ballÂ… |
Intellectually I realize that ... I'll just need to succumb to the inevitable and let this process do its thing. ... Accept ... apparently, I'm just along for the ride. To say this, to accept, in the face of ordinary obstacles is difficult; to live it through in the face of ordinary obstacles takes strength and courage. To say it in the face of life itself is great honesty. To live it in the face of life itself means, to me at least, the greatest courage and love a human can possibly achieve. Pat, to share your difficulties as you have done is to keep us grounded in the reality of the struggle to live and grow. There is no use in high-flown words if they have no grounding. Your sharing has made my difficulties easier to bear. We are just humans, prone to error, in impermanent bodies. To manifest eternity--the eternity of life, of reality, of the universe, of God, of love--from this position, is our challenge. Lugnut is doing his job, and what a job. I am immensely grateful. |
Patrick, thanks for another wonderful post. I'll be watching for news. I wish you all the very best... more than I can say, since this is your thread and I'm shy. I love biplanes myself, and now one day I'll take a ride in one thanks to you. |
All you've gotten from the posts here, Pat, you've given it back in spades. "Our House" started going through my head as I read... I can imagine the place you describe, or one like it. What a pleasure. Thanks for that, and for all the rest. Just... thanks. |
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he did turn it WAAAAY down. Lucky I didn't get shot in the face Hah ! Bet the other guy felt the same way ! I'm glad you showed how you felt. It is not compassionate to blast your car system (and not compassionate either to build systems for sale that will do the blasting). I went up on our local mountain to watch the sunrise a few weeks ago and some kids turned the hip-hop up to blast. It was speak up or leave and I left. |
Boy o boy, Pat, after reading this I feel like I've been on the unofficial San Francisco Audio Club members' rally with you myself. Thanks for posting it--the fun you had comes across in spades. And thanks all you guys for showing Pat and Barb such a good time ! |
What Nate said about Pat free-falling made me think of this. The original German is by Rilke. Thanks Pat for the chance to share it, and think of you and of us all.
As if from the distance, leaves are falling,
Fall as if their far-off gardens fade into the sky;
They fall, their gestures are of letting go.
And through the night there falls the pressing earth
Down all lonesome past the stars.
We are all falling. There: this hand falls too,
It happens to us all. Just look around you.
Still there is one who holds us tenderly
As in his hands we fall, fall endlessly. |
His love will always be present in our home and sitting with me in the sweet spot. My eyes filled with tears as I read this. God bless you both. Love from Toby. |
Hello Pat, it's good to be thinking of you and yours. It's a beautiful day. Glad you're here to share it. |
Thank you for the news of Pat's passing. May he rest in peace, and his loved ones be well and happy.
Paul says Pat thought this thread saved him from feeling alone. Well, Pat wasn't the only one. I realize that, through Pat's thread, "Pat's loved ones" includes me... as it does so many. I am very grateful indeed for that.
God bless us all. |
Maybe it's the timing... I get the strangest feeling looking at that picture of Pat and Barb. It's as though Pat's not here, but he's not gone either, and somehow he's looking out for... for me??! Now that is a strange thought but I'm keeping it. I guess it's no different from the feeling I got from reading his thread, anyway, day by day. Thank you so much for the picture, Barb, and God bless. |
