Crossroads

(Source for image - http://www.dbm-info.co.uk/images/research/crossroads.jpg )






















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Life's crossroads

What does it all mean?

As of late, I see myself getting more fatalistic with age.
Certainly not every life event is preordained.

But, alas the milestone events appear to happen without
any way to stop, change, or avoid them.

Not every falling leaf, raindrop, sunbeam, tear, or smile is fated.
But, those crossroad events seem immutable and beyond control.

What does it all mean? And where do I go from here?
I chose to walk my life road with a mate.

And fate has snatched her from me.
Plucked like a rosebud before coming to flower and full bloom.

No gloom, doom, or brooding temperament will I wear.
I control the attitude, demeanor, and character of my life.

Though uncertainty, doubts and trials still await me;
the road lay ahead with surprises and happiness yet to come.

But, does Fate intervene in life? Well, I believe so. The following is what I believe one could call Fate in one person's life.


New Abode

One day during World War I, Winston Churchill visited France as a volunteer to observe the fighting first hand. In his sandbagged shelter at the front line, he was brought a message from a visiting general, a former acquaintance, who wanted to see him. Churchill was instructed to walk to a crossroads some three miles away, where a car would meet him. After waiting at the crossroads for nearly an hour, however, he was joined by one of the general's officers. The car had been sent to the wrong crossroads, the man explained, and it was now too late for any meeting to take place. Churchill, understandably peeved, began the long haul back to the trenches in the dark; then, as rain began to fall, he produced a stream of silent invective describing the thoughtless general.

When he finally reached his camp, Churchill was astonished to find that his shelter had apparently disappeared. Five minutes after his departure, he learned, a shell had come through the roof, obliterating the structure and killing the man inside.

"Suddenly I felt my irritation against General X pass completely from my mind," he later recalled. "All sense of grievance departed in a flash. As I walked to my new abode, I reflected how thoughtful it had been of him to wish to see me again, and to show courtesy to a subordinate when he had so much responsibility on his shoulders."

Churchill, Winston Leonard Spenser (1874-1965) British politician and writer, First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-15, 1939-), prime minister (from 1940), Nobel Prize recipient (Literature, 1953) [noted for his remarkable eloquence and leadership ability; for his memoirs and letters; and for such works as The Second World War, The Great Republic : A History of America and My Early Life]

[Sources: Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes]

(Source - anecdotage.com - http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=3888 )

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. . . never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Winston Churchill

(Source for quote - http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=423 )

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November 1st marks four months since Pam died.

Pam - We all love you and miss you. Jerry and the Kids.

PS All of us are hanging in there and doing as well as can be expected.

Into the Darkness

(Source for picture - University Lowbrow Astronomers -
http://www.umich.edu/~lowbrows/reflections/2007/mdeprest.27.html )






















Into the Darkness

The Twilit approaches and
so into the Darkness soon I must go.

Some plans are never completed.
And some songs are never sung.
Life has its share of Pain and Sorrow.
Life has its share of Laughter and Joy.

The Churn of Memories almost drown me
as I recall what is my life.
I can’t dwell in Sorrow,
I will not succumb to constant Tears.

And Fears and Shadows will
always dog me but a last – our troubles;
Are only part of life.
All Good times finally rest.

And Pain and Sorrow eventually fades.
I must draw my Strength in tomorrow.
Even as Twilit approaches and
despite not knowing what lies ahead.

Some things will never change,
the work, doubts, and strife.
But Good memories and
Love really never fades.

So, I walk with a smile and
briskly into the Twilit.
Light always follows Darkness.
And our memories of Love never fade.

Despite the Twilit and Darkness into
which I will bravely go.
Good memories strengthen me
and our love will sustain me . . .

as the Twilit approaches and
so into the Darkness soon I must go.

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. . . Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

(Source -1 Corinthians 13:6-8 - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=31 )

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Do not go gentle into that good night

by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

(Source - Poets.org - http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377 )

Jackson Browne - Sky Blue and Black

Paramore - Misery Business

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyGvGEtOwc)

Just a bit of new music. Enjoy. ;-) GC