It is funny saying goodbye to someone you know you will probably never see again....
I don't mean someone you have just met or a casual acquaintance or even someone you have fallen out with..... quite the opposite in fact....
I am talking about someone who you have shared intimate discussions with, someone who has seen you with you pants down, they've even felt your balls, it goes even so far as to say you have given them some of your bodily fluids ....... it seemed so strange saying goodbye for the last time .......
Back in 2009, I was overseas on business, it was very sunny Saturday morning, and I was stressing because I was still in my work gear and I needed to get back to the hotel to check out and to get checked in for my flight home from Cairo........ then my phone started buzzing with texts.....
It seemed that my daughter had parked the car in one of our neighbours hedges.... nothing too serious I thought, but as I sent more text, the answers I was getting back suggested more.... seems my daughter [on a single track village road I would add] had rolled the car through 360 degrees and parked the car in the hedge at 45 degrees to the horizontal and 90 degrees to the roadway..... not even the Stig could have achieved that fine feat.... but thankfully my daughter got out with only her pride injured.... I was overseas and my wife was also away for the day..... and so it was my neighbours, minus part of their hedge who consoled my daughter..... Lois and Mike.
Wonderful neighbours to have, and Lois.... oh Lois was beautiful, she smiled so beautifully with her eyes...... So it was we became friends through my daughters mis-hap..... winding the clock forwards 18 months, and I heard Lois was not well...... I went to see her, and little did I realise just how unwell she was...... confined to her bed, only able to speak using a computer voice box [ala Stephen Hawkins], but despite her plight, oh my gosh her beautiful eyes smiled so wonderfully.....
A few weeks after seeing her, I was driving through the village in the middle of the night en-route to yet another overseas business jolly, and there was a light on at Lois and Mike's house...... When I got home from that trip, again driving through the middle of the night through the village, Lois and Mike's house was enveloped by the darkness...... Lois had died......
So there I was on Saturday morning last, walking the dogs, and I bumped into Mike on his way out.... How you doing Mike ?.... oh not too bad he said, I now have a dog who follows me everywhere.... Although I am just on my way to see our Doctor, he is retiring at the end of this month and he was so kind to Lois. I am just on my way to say goodbye to him..... How funny I said, my doctor is retiring too, when I have walked the dogs I am going to say goodbye to my doctor too.....
All routes lead back to Mitch Albom...... Lois died of ALS.... a disease that causes your body to kill it'self...... Mitch Albom wrote the wonderful book ....... Tuesday with Morrie ....... Morrie Scwhartz died of ALS ....... If you have never read it then ....Tuesday with Morrie, is a wonderful read.....
Of course, it could be said that it is no co-incidence living in the same village as Mike and Lois, in that we shared doctors.... but I was with this doctor long before I moved to the village where I now live...
And so there I was Saturday morning, standing in line, [a line that went round the block]..... waiting to say good bye...... when my turn came I shook my doctors hand and thanked him so much for all the care and kindness he exhibited to me..... despite the intimacy of our association [see above] I can tell you very little about my Doctor....
Of course it might not be the doctor who you are saying the last goodbye to
there are many people in our lives who offer the same level of impact....
Lois ? someone else ? anyone ?
I don't mean someone you have just met or a casual acquaintance or even someone you have fallen out with..... quite the opposite in fact....
I am talking about someone who you have shared intimate discussions with, someone who has seen you with you pants down, they've even felt your balls, it goes even so far as to say you have given them some of your bodily fluids ....... it seemed so strange saying goodbye for the last time .......
Back in 2009, I was overseas on business, it was very sunny Saturday morning, and I was stressing because I was still in my work gear and I needed to get back to the hotel to check out and to get checked in for my flight home from Cairo........ then my phone started buzzing with texts.....
It seemed that my daughter had parked the car in one of our neighbours hedges.... nothing too serious I thought, but as I sent more text, the answers I was getting back suggested more.... seems my daughter [on a single track village road I would add] had rolled the car through 360 degrees and parked the car in the hedge at 45 degrees to the horizontal and 90 degrees to the roadway..... not even the Stig could have achieved that fine feat.... but thankfully my daughter got out with only her pride injured.... I was overseas and my wife was also away for the day..... and so it was my neighbours, minus part of their hedge who consoled my daughter..... Lois and Mike.
Wonderful neighbours to have, and Lois.... oh Lois was beautiful, she smiled so beautifully with her eyes...... So it was we became friends through my daughters mis-hap..... winding the clock forwards 18 months, and I heard Lois was not well...... I went to see her, and little did I realise just how unwell she was...... confined to her bed, only able to speak using a computer voice box [ala Stephen Hawkins], but despite her plight, oh my gosh her beautiful eyes smiled so wonderfully.....
A few weeks after seeing her, I was driving through the village in the middle of the night en-route to yet another overseas business jolly, and there was a light on at Lois and Mike's house...... When I got home from that trip, again driving through the middle of the night through the village, Lois and Mike's house was enveloped by the darkness...... Lois had died......
So there I was on Saturday morning last, walking the dogs, and I bumped into Mike on his way out.... How you doing Mike ?.... oh not too bad he said, I now have a dog who follows me everywhere.... Although I am just on my way to see our Doctor, he is retiring at the end of this month and he was so kind to Lois. I am just on my way to say goodbye to him..... How funny I said, my doctor is retiring too, when I have walked the dogs I am going to say goodbye to my doctor too.....
All routes lead back to Mitch Albom...... Lois died of ALS.... a disease that causes your body to kill it'self...... Mitch Albom wrote the wonderful book ....... Tuesday with Morrie ....... Morrie Scwhartz died of ALS ....... If you have never read it then ....Tuesday with Morrie, is a wonderful read.....
Of course, it could be said that it is no co-incidence living in the same village as Mike and Lois, in that we shared doctors.... but I was with this doctor long before I moved to the village where I now live...
And so there I was Saturday morning, standing in line, [a line that went round the block]..... waiting to say good bye...... when my turn came I shook my doctors hand and thanked him so much for all the care and kindness he exhibited to me..... despite the intimacy of our association [see above] I can tell you very little about my Doctor....
other than when I shook his hand and thanked him,
it seemed odd that this was the last good bye .......
a very strange feeling, with a large degree of emptiness,
he isn't dying but as we exchanged smiles
it just seemed odd that we are never likely to meet again...
he isn't dying but as we exchanged smiles
it just seemed odd that we are never likely to meet again...
Of course it might not be the doctor who you are saying the last goodbye to
there are many people in our lives who offer the same level of impact....
Lois ? someone else ? anyone ?
Mitch Albom
“There are no random acts...
We are all connected...
You can no more separate one life from another
than you can separate a breeze from the wind...
We are all connected...
You can no more separate one life from another
than you can separate a breeze from the wind...
