“With you a part of me hath passed away/ For in the peopled forest of my mind/ A tree made lifeless by this wintry wind/Shall never don again its green array./Chapel and fireside, country road and bay/ Have something of their friendliness resigned, / Another, if I would, I could not find, /And I am grown much older in a day./Yet still I treasure in my memory/Your gift of charity, your young heart’s ease/ AND THE DEAR HONOUR OF YOUR AMITY-/ And, these once mine, my life is rich with these./And I scarce know which part may greater be,—/ What i keep of you, or you rob from me.”
—George Santayana
(For a friend dead 8 years ago yesterday. I hope maybe, spirits can perceive what we send out over the ether of the airwaves….? Anyway: I love that line I capitalized: “And the dear honour of your amity”…idk, it seems to me poetic perfection. May all those who mourn be comforted , as the beatitudes promise us.)
In Memoriam
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ST UnWoked & UnVaxxed! 
Thank you so much for this, Hypatia. Our loved ones who have passed on can definitely hear us: they watch over us always.
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I made a promise never to forget this friend. I hope this remembrance may be perceived.
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It will be, Hypatia.
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My thoughts are with you, Hyp! This seems to be a week for remembrance. Recall the reference in the Letter to the Hebrews concerning a “great cloud of witnesses” [12:1]? I think we experience that more often than we recognize it. Peace be with you – and all of us!
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Sorry for your loss. Some friendships are truly irreplaceable.
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The cosmos is a strange and wonderful thing. Who can know?
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“Another, if I would, I could not find”…well, I would! Like someone happily married who is widowed, I want another such friendship, but it is a parlous quest.
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Yet again, truer words have not been spoken.
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Many Catholics pray not only to official saints, but to our loved ones who have died as well. When Robin died, the funeral home informed us that they could do nothing without his social security card. I had no idea where he kept it, just that it was somewhere in his office. My cousin and I ransacked the office trying to find the social security cards. An hour went by, and we hadn’t found them, and we had looked everywhere. I was almost hysterical, and had prayed to St Anthony-the patron saint of lost items-a million times, to no avail. Finally, in the privacy of my own mind, I started begging Robin to help me. 30 seconds later, my cousin found the social security cards in a folder that we had already looked through. I looked at her in amazement, then turned my head, and the first thing I saw was a picture of Robin that was laying on the desk.
We pray for our deceased loved ones, and to them as well, and sometimes, they answer us back. I am so sorry that you lost your dear friend, Hypatia. You will see them again. They are watching over you, and they do hear you.
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Judy, I also believe in the power of prayer. I would think a local family does too. Ask Miss Nitaya for details.
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I know. Does Hypatia know about that? If she doesn’t, you should tell her.
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Would you mind giving us the condensed version for our new members and daily lurkers professional edifications?
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Of course! The father of one of Simon’s friends in Thailand became critically ill. He was in the hospital, and the doctors believed that it was the end. Simon visited him in the hospital. This gentleman and his family were not Christian. Simon asked the family’s permission to pray for and over him. They granted permission, Simon went to the man’s room, and prayed for and over him. He made a full recovery, and walked out of the hospital either the next day or not long after.
Never underestimate the power of prayer.
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That is about the gist of it. I can not say with certainty how near the end he was, but he looked like death to me when I first laid eyes on him.
We can ask Miss Nitaya and her father’s doctors if and when the truth detectors start trying to change the story.
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Knowing me like I do, I would not have asked to pray over a stranger if the situation were not dire. Just sayen’
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I know! You gave such an incredible witness, and God worked His grace through you and through this gentleman’s family. So beautiful, and so powerful.
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I never knew any of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother died 5 or 6 years before I was born, and at the end, when she was really struggling, she had a near death experience that was so incredible that she wanted to die, and was disappointed to find that she hadn’t. “It’s all true. Everything they say is true.” That is what she told her youngest daughter when she came back from the near death experience.
A few years later, my mother found one of my paternal grandmother’s purses in the attic, and in it was a novena to St Jude, who is the saint of the impossible and lost causes. My Mom started praying this novena to St Jude, that she would have a baby. A short time later, she became pregnant with me, and named me after St Jude.
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“…St Jude, who is the saint of the impossible and lost causes.”
Finally I get to know the name of my patron saint!
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St Jude is awesome 🙂 All saints are awesome, of course, but I am partial 🙂
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I cherish him (St. Jude), too; don’t forget Christopher and the Archangel Michael, ST. (You retired Maverick, you. ) 🙂
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