Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 03:08 PM

Home today! She came out of hospital last Monday, and has been staying with another friend near the hospital since. She now feels strong enough to look after herself, although climbing stairs is a major effort. I cooked her egg fried rice, and she ate more than I've seen her eat for two months (a third of a normal portion to you or me), and I hope she doesn't explode. Still got her hair despite the chemo, so we're enjoying that while it lasts. Watched Andy Murray do what we Brits are best at- losing gallantly. Walked in HER garden for five minutes, tired her out completely. She's lived on air for nweeks. Fat gone, muscle largely gone, smile still there.

Trying to arrange an informal rota of friends and neighbours to make sure someone visits regularly throughout the week.

I hope this is near the bottom- she's been magnificent so far but there's only so much the human frame can take. Still, home, her own bed, glorious sunshine outside. Life could be worse.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: maeve
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 03:11 PM

That is welcome good news. I hope she will continue to heal and grow strong again. Thank you for the happy news.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 03:49 PM

Still thinking of you both.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: jacqui.c
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:26 PM

Good news - take care.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: olddude
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 06:28 PM

I will dig out my Rosary, works everytime, got the Captain back for us, I am on it

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 07:12 PM

very good news

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Neil D
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 11:25 AM

Glad to hear she is doing so well! Keep fighting the good fight.

                                  Neil and Christina

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 05:46 PM

You are a good friend and I am glad to hear she is in her own home. That can be so important. Thanks for letting us know.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: fat B****rd
Date: 05 Jul 09 - 03:02 PM

Excellent news, thank you and my very best regards. Charlie.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 01:11 PM

Bad news. Chemo didn't work. Too weak for a more aggressive treatment. End of line, barring miracles.

Thanks. I had to get this off my chest, even though it's draft one.

You have moulded my life from the day I first met you, my dear;
Every thought, every act, every day, every month, every year,
Every breath that I take has been yours to refuse or to give,
And although we must part, I will love you as long as I live.

Like a fool I contrived and contended to make you my own
Though to me you were diamonds and sapphires compared to a stone,
But you smiled at my wit, and your laughter brought peace to my heart,
Contented with you, and uneasy when we were apart.

The home you created, a stronghold of beauty and peace,
For your children, a nest where contention and trouble could cease,
For the treasure you lost, and the traitor who cheated and left
Forged the power in your beauty, like warp gives its strength to the weft.

When I turn from your grave I will leave and I'll never return,
But forever your light like a fire in my being will burn.
Perhaps there'll be love as I wander the sands of the world,
But you'll always be with me, my beautiful redheaded girl.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: gnu
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:23 PM

Thoughts and prayers.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: ClaireBear
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:50 PM

So sorry to hear this, but if it is her time, then at least she couldn't have a better friend than you to ease her passage. Strength and love to you.

C

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Maryrrf
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:57 PM

I followed this thread when you first posted it and hoped the outcome would be positive. I'm so sorry for this bad news. But I agree, at least she has a wonderful supportive friend and that must mean a great deal.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Neil D
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 03:56 PM

So very sorry Jack, hoped things would turn out better. Loving thoughts to you and your friend.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Emma B
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 04:08 PM

Thinking of you both

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Morticia
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 05:02 PM

hugs

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:09 PM

I have sent good thoughts to both of you. Now I seek some better words which may be helpful. Miracles do happen every single day; one of them is to have a good death. I once was privileged to help a friend's mother to do just that. It is one of the high points of my life. It was to sit with her at 3 am when she was "scared of dying! Wouldn't you be?" and I was gifted with words which did not come from me but, rather, through me. As she held both my hands as tightly as she was able - I could not leave her alone, nor would I - I spoke words to her which eased her fear and enabled her to die peacefully a day later. She moved from fear and anger to peace as I was open to allow words to flow from the spirit which dwells within each of us and connects us one to another. And the peace in which she lived her last day of life was a gift to her son and his family. "God" is not a word I generally use but the bottom line that night was an encouragement to "let go and let God". It suited her.

A Quaker friend who died some years ago wrote in 1988: "I saw that death,too, is another great divide... When we walk in faith, holding the hand of God, through these ominous shadows before us, a great and beautiful light beyond our present knowing awaits us."

But for those who are left behind, another Friend wrote: "I think now that I am ready to lay down (the pain of loss), to start getting used to the transition this child has made, to prepare myself for the adventure of knowing him in his new state of being."

For William Penn wrote in 1693:
Those who love beyond the World, cannot be separated by it.
Death cannot kill that which never dies.
Nor can Spirits ever be divided
that love and live in the same Divine Principle,
the Root and Record of their Friendship.
If Absence be not Death, neither is theirs.

Death is but Crossing the World, as Friends do the seas;
they live in one another still.
....

***

Your friends shall surely live on in the lives of those she has touched. She will be with you always, a gift you will carry in your heart as you work through the pain of loss and beyond.

Peace be with you both at this important time in your lives.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: My guru always said
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 04:43 AM

So very sorry, sending hugs!
Hil

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: GUEST,another friend
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:25 PM

I'm sorry to post that I had a phone call from 'Jack' to let me know that our friend lost her battle against this disease last night.

He asked me to thank you all for your kind thoughts, he will thank you all personally soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:37 PM

RIP

She must be an amazing lady to be so cherished.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: gnu
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:38 PM

Thoughts and prayers.

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:55 PM

My condolences and thanks for letting us know.

May she find peace and rest.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Good thoughts for a good friend please
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 05:16 PM

So sorry.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: sing4peace
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:07 PM

May she rest in peace.
May Jack find comfort in the love that remains.

In sympathy,
Joyce

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:42 PM

I am so sorry my friend. My thoughts are with you.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6
From: Janie
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 08:45 PM

So very sorry. May all who love her feel themselves surrounded in the light of the universe, and journey safely through the sea of grieving.

Janie

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Neil D
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 10:47 PM

So, very sorry Jack. Will be keeping you in our thoughts.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Maryrrf
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 11:05 PM

I am so sorry to hear this.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 03:34 AM

Sorry to hear this. Keeping her friends and family in our thoughts

Khatt and Paul

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 04:19 AM

thinking of you & the others who share the loss

sandra

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: mouldy
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 04:37 AM

Peace after pain...and there's always (eventually) sunshine after rain.

Thinking of you

Andrea

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 07 Oct 09 - 01:44 PM

Oh my, i am so sorry! All this love and care surrounding you and your anonymous friend, Jack. It is still here. And though your friend has moved on, her light and love live on through you. And she has no more pain.

Please come back to us when you are ready.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: billhudson
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 11:38 AM

So Sorry to hear your loss Jack. I lost one of my best friends, Barb on Dec. 23 two years ago. And was with her from the time she found out and going through so many ups and downs. Barb was the best friend a musician could ask for.
As we went along I got funny films for her to watch and a few of us musicians played for her from time to time. Music and the arts can really heal I believe.My job was to make her laugh as hard as that was.
Still Pickin'
B.H.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: GUEST,Jack Sprocket
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 12:09 PM

Thanks to you all. Love and support be yours when you need it, and may it surprise you even when you don't.

Autumn

Lovely as Spring, generous as Summer,
You left us as leaves changed
To the colour of your hair.

Black Car

A small black car passed me as I walked.
Someone waved; it wasn't you.

Fair Hands

Rank wet grass in the autumn mist,
Grey weeds choke the flower beds,
Damsons rot on the pathways-
Fair hands busy no more.

Sunday, 4pm

1. Silence.

Don't look for the straw sunhat on the terrace-
I don't know that woman sipping beer.
The telephone stayed silent this afternoon.

2. Epiphany

Bright outside, dark within;
Redgold hair glows in the doorway-
Another half of bitter please!

3. The Indiscretion

Tipsy, you said something you repented next day.
But it was sweet. In vino veritas?

A Sceptic's Prayer

Water plunges down the rock beside the ruined mill
And sings and dances in the pools below
In those woods where we kissed.

If spirits exist, I'll meet you there.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 02:08 PM

Beautifully said.....and you have all my best. Although I know time will help heal, right now I also know the pain doesn't care. Take good care of yourself and keep writing.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 02:18 PM

Blessings, Jack.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:55 AM

Bluster

"She's dead!" jeered the wind, tugging at my hair, "You've lost her!"
Fool! She's warm and safe, here, in my heart.

Best Before End April 2009

Cheese in the fridge. It's out of date.
I'll drink the wine alone.

Recipes

Falafels in gooseberry sauce,
Carrots and chestnuts,
Red rice and pine kernels,
Halloumi and pineapple,
Hot and sour broccoli,
Potatoes with Stilton.

What can I cook now I've lost the main ingredient?

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Neil D
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:34 PM

Hoping you are ok Jack. Keeping you and your friends family close in thought.

Subject: RE: Good thoughts for a good friend please- RIP 6 Oct
From: Hawker
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 06:12 PM

So very, very sorry to read this thread. sending love to you Jack and hugs, healing thoughts and a hand to hold through the dark times, she was obviously a very special lady and she was blessed to have a very special man to hold her hand through the last part of her life. Cherish the memories till you meet again.
Lucy xx