"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night . . . You--only you--will have stars that can laugh!"
And he laughed again.
"And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure . . . And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you . . ."
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince
This quote has special meaning for me in connection to the loss of a family member. I put it on Friday's thread because of comments by Habib and Bitterweed. Sadly, it seems the best thing I can think of to post today.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I can say for everyone that our hearts and thoughts are with Alisdair and his family.
Alisdair - so sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
ReplyDeleteAlisdair,
ReplyDeleteI just want to say I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad. My deepest condolences and best wishes.
Alisdair,
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry to hear about your Dad. It must have been a great shock happening before you like that. You're in all our thoughts, take care.
Love, Sheff
Deepest condolences and warmest thoughts for you and yours, alisdair. x
ReplyDeleteAlisdair - my deepest sympathy. Best wishes to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteCondolences Alistair, very sorry to hear about your dad, best wishes to you and the family.
ReplyDeleteAlisdair. Condolences.
ReplyDeleteCondolences from me also Alisdair.
ReplyDeleteAnd from me too, Alisdair.
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Thank you all, for your kind words and for demonstrating that decency and humanity do exist 'out there'.My brother and I and our other halves are keeping my Mum going, and the whole procedural stuff (coroner, post mortem, making all the necessary arrangements)should serve as some kind of distraction, but although some of the initial shock has gone (I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to have to administer CPR to a parent, and see no results)I (in fact all of us) are still getting hit by waves of tearful sadness, often at the slightest thing, like tidying his bedside and seeing the books with bookmarks still in them, never to be finished.
ReplyDeleteAll of your thoughts and sentiments have meant a lot, and I am ever so grateful to you all.
Alisdair,
ReplyDeleteHesitated whether to post this or not. Completely coincidentally, ran into this live version of Edge of Seventeen where Stevie Nicks explains that the song is mostly about the sudden death of a beloved uncle.
I don't know if it helps or hurts, or neither, but there it is if you want to listen.
xoxo
Alidair
ReplyDeleteI remember from when my Pa died ten years ago, although not in front of me, as with you. Things'll be pretty excruciating for a while. If you feel up to it, keep us posted about how you're doing, we're all here if you need us.
Alisdair
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know HankScorpio sends his condolences too. He is without a computer right now, but we had a chat earlier
Alisdair - so sorry to hear about your dad. Best wishes to you all.
ReplyDeletexRx
Alisdair, I've only just read about your loss - I'm so sorry to hear this news. Take care. parallax
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