A Sad Start to the Day – Monday July 25, 2016

I was playing my video game, Fallout 4, around 1:30AM and my phone rang.  Sis, very sad and upset, called to tell me that Dad had passed away at the hospital.  He was there to have his heart checked following some pain.  The stress test had told them his heart was working at about 80%, pretty good.  We had visited Sunday afternoon and had all gone home.  He was talking to Mom on the phone and had to hang up because his shoulder hurt.  He began having pains in his groin.  The doctor called for a scan of the area, then left, telling them to call when the scan had completed and was ready.  Dad coded about 15 minutes later and his heart stopped.  They were unable to revive him.

Mom is hurting badly.  She misses him very much.  The nursing home tells me they will miss him as well.  He was well-liked.  He told jokes constantly, pulled little pranks, and was in the process of finishing up a book he was authoring on the computer – a western tale.  I have promised myself I will finish it, edit it, then publish it on Kindle.

I don’t know how I feel just yet.  I know that can take time.  I haven’t cried yet – that will come at some point; I know that.  We played about 15 games of chess a week.  I had noticed he was having more and more problems playing, but he still didn’t lose them all.

He was a good father.  He and I had our times throughout my life – that is pretty normal for father/son, I am told.  At the end, we loved each other and got along well.  I am happy to have visited him so much at the nursing home.

Life will be so different now; I just don’t know how it will be.

Everyone says it; I will too:   “Love your parents – you just never know…”

Namaste,

Scott

Click Click!

Well, this is not a video.  However, it is about photos and/or videos.  It’s about selfies.  You know, those sometimes-funny-sometimes-not pics we all take of ourselves doing inane or stupid stuff.  Like I really want to see a selfie of you in your cowboy outfit riding a dime store horse.  However, there are also the decent selfies.  Like taking a selfie of you with Jessica Alba, or getting ready to walk into someplace really special, like the White House.  Notice how I smartly left out all those selfies of 20 and 30 something young women in bathing suits or less?  See, that’s because I AM SMART!

Anyway, this article covers extreme selfies – that’s those one-in-a-lifetime shots because you may well DIE TAKING THEM! Yeah, those…just read please:

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/09/25/what-are-you-more-afraid-of-sharks-or-selfies/ 

Namaste,

Scott

 

That Question of Death

It is early evening on Sunday.  I, generally, try to write my blog post in the morning.   However, with my Dad in the hospital, I visited with Mom, stayed quite awhile, and came home late this afternoon.

I have been dealing with several issues lately and will throw them out to you for discussion if I may. My belief in death is that we all go to God when it’s done. I have never been big on judgement and punishment; I know that statement will bother a lot of church-goers; I apologize.  I am not trying to offend, just explain.

Dad doesn’t like to show worry, but I believe he is.  I am.  I am not worried for anything except his physical body, the deep emotions he would leave behind, and the problems with him being gone.

My faith in God watching over us (over him) and bringing all things together for good, does not leave death out of the picture. I understand that. I also understand it is not always better for someone to continue living. I don’t believe this is Dad’s case at all. He has many years left in him and he doesn’t want to die. My dilemma is simply the pain of leaving behind people who have issues.

I know it’s not my place to worry about everyone and I don’t really. But, I have just been trying to work and word the idea of “everything works together for good” and the idea of death. How do we talk with people about this and still sound compassionate?   I am sorry, but “he’s in a better place now,” just doesn’t cut it well with me. Nor does “you know, he lived his whole life preparing to leave and be with God.”

Perhaps, that makes me selfish, but, if so, it does most of the population of the world, I think. Opinion?
Namaste,
Scott