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image credit: natural learning
Mar15
how and why?
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image credit: natural learning
Tag Archives: death
Nov2
sugar skulls.
today our kinders
learned a beautiful lesson
about a lovely tradition
honoring those who we have loved and lost
and now continue to remember
on this very special holiday each year
and onward.
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“the core belief of the Day of the Dead is so poetic and simple: as long as we remember those who have passed away, as long as we tell their stories, sing their songs, tell their jokes, cook their favorite meals, then they are with us, around us, and in our hearts.
-jorge r. guiterrez
The Art of the Book of Life, Introduction
(Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead)
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this post is dedicated to little hazen
forever 5
who left us on this day
much loved
lost much too soon
and always remembered.
Aug31
don’t forget.
what a lovely coincidence
that on this day
as i continue on my city parks journey
and drive through a neighborhood
i am lost
until
i come to the intersection of
pamela and patricia
the names of
my two sisters
one still with us
one gone forever
and today –
her birthday
i look ahead to find
they’ve led me
to the beautiful park right in front of me.
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“don’t forget to leave your handprints on the ones you love
and your footprints around the neighborhood.”
― lisa c. miller
Aug21
the sun and the moon.
Apr8
have a ball.
i love her final gesture
and it made me give pause –
if i were to go today
i would leave behind the following things for others to enjoy:
$7.oo, a sock monkey, photographs, glitter, collage projects, letters and books.
i hope there is no fighting over the monkey.
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“laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.”
-oscar wilde
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credits: getty images, mental floss
Mar22
dock porters with heart.
my brother, scott
who never stops raising money for research and awareness
in honor of my nephew, hazen, gone way too soon
so that others may stay.
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thank you to his mackinac island dock porter brothers from so many years ago.
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“say not in grief: “he is no more”, but live in thankfulness that he was.”
-hebrew proverb
Mar2
valhalla.
scottish children gave their goldfish a viking funeral
most people could only be so lucky as to receive the kind of funeral that two goldfish in the scottish isle of orkney were given by some children who were learning about vikings.
the pair of classroom mascots, bubbles and freddy, belonged to the 3rd and 4th grade classes of the papdale school in the town of kirkwall, according to the BBC. the fish had been with the students for a few months, but died about a week before the kids were due to learn about the vikings, so it was decided that they would send the pets to valhalla with a viking funeral.
the students created a small fleet of miniature coffin boats to send off the deceased, fashioned out of cereal boxes and egg crates. they also wrote and recited their favorite memories about bubbles and freddy. finally, they led a funeral procession to a nearby stream where the boats were put in the water, and the lead vessel was set on fire.
may bubbles and freddy forever swim in the halls of their warrior heaven, valhalla.
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“to live in the hearts we leave behind is to live forever.”
― carl sagan
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credits: bbc scotland news, e. grundhauser
Dec29
the odyssey.
pretzel rod, the albino leopard gecko (pre-odyssey).
last weekend
i stayed with the grandies
while their mom and dad were out of town
and
for some reason
during the last hour i was there
the two friendly house cats
decided to make a snack out of p-rod.
i had no idea this happened until i got home and got the call:
“the cats somehow got the screen off of the top of his terrarium and ate the gecko!”
imagine how badly i felt
that the murder had happened on my watch.
grandie f had just gotten this young gecko
for his birthday 6 weeks ago and was very sad.
he had replaced pretzel,
the tiny, twisty snake who was let go in the backyard.
the next day i picked him up at school and we planned
to make a memorial stone for pretzel rod to put in the garden.
we talked for a while about love and loss and pets and nature.
imagine my surprise when i got a call late that night that he had been found!
he must have crawled into the boys’ dirty laundry
which was on their bedroom floor
to escape the cats
hid out for 24 hours
then was scooped up
unknowingly
put in the washing machine
with the laundry
where he was washed, rinsed and spun.
what?!
he had survived
a feline attack
a day in smelly boy pants
fear
starvation
and
waterboarding?
he was washed, spun and rinsed
but there he was
sitting on the bottom of the washer
and after all of this, he was alive!
f yelled out over the phone:
“and he’s getting stronger by the minute!”
mom and dad said he looked rough and didn’t know if he’d make it
but he was indeed alive.
my task the next day was to get him some special treats
wax worms
(the big macs of the lizard world)
from the pet store to see if he would eat.
sure enough, he had some dinner
the first he’d eaten in a few days.
hopefully he’s on the mend
and we won’t have to go through a ‘second death’.
he looks a little lighter in color,
has some bite marks from the cats,
and doesn’t move as much
but he is alive and that is amazing.
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“it is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― leon c. megginson
Dec13
don’t be long.
before he was an astronaut,
john glenn served as a military pilot during world war II and the korean war.
before leaving for combat missions, he always told his wife annie,
“i’m just going to the corner store to get a pack of gum.”
she always replied, “don’t be long.”
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” the return makes one love the farewell. “
-alfred de musset
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farewell john glenn, one of my heroes.
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credits: cnn.com, mental floss, washington post
Oct7
“if you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.” – robert h. schuller
norma and her therapy dog, ringo on the road.
Norma Bauerschmidt, who decided to take a cross-country RV trip instead of undergoing cancer treatment has died at the age of 91.
More than 400,000 people have followed Norma Jean Bauerschmidt’s journey with her son and daughter-in-law on her “Driving Miss Norma” Facebook page. Her final stop was San Juan Island, Wash. San Juan County Coroner Randall Gaylord said Bauerschmidt died Friday, Sept. 30.
When 90-year-old Michigan native Norma Jean Bauerschmidt learned she had a large, likely cancerous mass on her uterus, she wasn’t going to waste any time with what she saw as debilitating treatment. Instead, she spent her final days experiencing as much of the world as she could.
Bauerschmidt, a native of Presque Isle, died in her motor home on San Juan Island, Wash., on Sept. 30 at the age of 91, but not before she’d traveled more than 13,000 miles in an RV, sleeping in 75 different locations in 32 states.
In that time, “Miss Norma” became in internet sensation, with more than 482,000 people following her travels via a Facebook page set up by her daughter titled “Driving Miss Norma.”
Her story has since gone viral, appearing on CBS News, BBC, Huffington Post and NBC’s “Today Show.”
Bauerschmidt’s decision to refuse treatment was made just two days after her husband, Leo, passed away. While sitting in an OB/GYN office talking about treatment options, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, a doctor asked her how she would like to proceed.
According to Facebook, Bauerschmidt, a tiny woman at 101 pounds and under 5 feet tall, looked the young doctor dead in the eye and with the strongest voice she could muster, said, “I’m 90-years-old. I’m hitting the road.”
And that’s what she did. They did, “what they don’t teach you in medical school,” and hit the road on Aug. 24, 2015.
While on the road, Miss Norma experienced many things for the first time. Big things like riding in a hot air balloon or on a horse, to little things like getting a pedicure or having her first taste of key lime pie, oysters and fried green tomatoes.
She was hosted by the U.S. Navy, the Atlanta Hawks, the Georgia Aquarium and the towns of Winthrop, Mass., Marietta, Ga., and, according to her Facebook page, what felt like the entire state of South Carolina.
Miss Norma also visited the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Walt Disney World and Yellowstone National Park.
She began hospice care after arriving in the San Juan Island town of Friday Harbor in August, according to the Associated Press.
A celebration of Miss Norma’s life and a memorial tree planting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 7 at 4:30 p.m. at Friday Harbor’s Overlook Park.
“Our families, friends, and the many thousands of former strangers have lifted us up and kept our spirits high,” a message from Miss Norma’s family reads on Facebook. “We continue to be overwhelmed by the kindness and love that has been directed our way.”
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credits: mlive.com, brandon champion, pittsburgh post gazette/ap
I didn't have my glasses on.... 