We too are so sad for Anna and her sister. Anna worked so hard for Caleb's wicked jag and has been a devoted friend to Caleb, and a constant bright beaming light of positive energy. We will all rally to help.
On that note, it is difficult to post today so I will just say that we are blessed to have Caleb with us.
Love, Mumsie
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Very Much Blessed!
Our condolances Anna and Sue!
Miners in Fleet
life is so fragile, so sweet and so sad. Anna and her family will need our strength and compasion. My prayers and love go out to them.
i don't even know what to say except i am here for the girls in any way i can be. i really loved edie and am shocked at how many sudden, violent events we all have had to endure...i feel as though wellfleet is being put through some kind of profound survival test..and one by one our cornerstones...the people i could rely on..the people i just assumed would always be there..are violently swept away. edie and i go back to when i owned the flying fish...i watched her flounder and then fly with her art...she was always a really amazing writer.. though there was never a lot of money, she was kind, funny and generous with what she had...and she was DEEP. her writing reflected a intensely thoughtful and intelligent style that could easily be published. i watched her raise anna, and then suzanne...alone...really..then she started working for the truro school system, and recently we laughed and cried together about just how crazy we all once were, and how we are the loving and caring cornerstones of the newer generations coming up..and what responsibility that was. edie, i will miss you..all of the rest of you out there, please just live and love intensely now..because you really could be just...gone...tomorrow. see you at one sharyn. love you.
The world seems to spin so fast and so out of control sometimes. Thankfully we have our loving friends and family to keep us grounded here. Peace and love to everyone! Thinking of you all.
My heart and prayers are with you Anna, and Suzie.. could someone post Anna's address (ASK HER FIRST??!!) so we can send cards, $, flowers, and/or care packages?? Life has it's way of mysteriously taking people, Edie~ I will always remember your SWEET smile, & your love for your girls. The bond between the 3 of them was literally unbreakable, compassionate, pure, and solid.
Reach out to our/your loved ones, love harder, and be grateful...
Sharyn, & Caleb hope you are healing well, enjoy the company today, and know my prayers are still flying on the wind to you. Xo.. Clance
Edie you will be missed. You were such a great mother and a dear friend. My prayers go out to Anna and Suzanne. We love you.
Below is a copy of a blog that Edie wrote in July. I will never forgot it. It gave me the best forward thoughts, it directed me to get in touch again with what was really going on.
Thank you Edie
Ellen C.
A Good Crop
I'm older than two-thirds of the people I know. I rode in on the shirttails of the sixties and twenty years later the boys who did return home from Viet Nam were men who didn't vote; twenty years after that are men who are dying from cancers caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Then there's the hippy side of the sixties. We all know the history; the disappointment, the drugs and money, and 'it's not going to work anyway' attitude. And the nether side of the Civil Rights movement -the gunning down of leaders, the violence and inequalities that persist today. All of this coupled with the breakdown of formal religion results in a breeding ground for violence, apathy, or if possible a materialistic scramble to the top of a ladder of opulent spending. Gross generalizations, I realize, but I am trying to give a picture of where I come from as a single mother, artist, and laborer.
I've seen a lot go down. The demise of the local fishing fleet has been one of the most heartbreaking. To have the tradition, culture and livelihood wiped out by international factory ships depleting the waters while our own small boats post for-sale signs or go off to auction in the government buy-back program, a list as long as those lost at sea, while displaced fishermen and families move off-Cape - is a loss that makes the heart sink.
And then there's all the greed. And the war. Not to mention the present regime so unhealthy for the working class.
Sure. Lately these last years of feeling my age, is the knowledge that, if I let it, the hot fetid breath of disappointment in life could very well sour what I've got left of it.
However…
This week an overwhelming tide of hope washed in, so strong, so viable, so present and so here-to-stay-not-going-away. It came onto the shores of Cape Cod where a tragic accident occurred on Independence Day. A beloved member of the community, twenty-five years old, was injured in a skateboard/truck accident, the board dragged under the wheel and our friend up in the air and down on his head. By nightfall the word was out. Seven per cent chance of survival.
And then the tide roared.
His generation, the twenty to thirty year olds, are praying. On the Town Hall lawn they're praying. Twice a day they're praying. In every store in five towns is a magic marker flyer 'Pray For Caleb". On surfboards paddling out in the Atlantic into a circle one hundred and twenty-five strong, they're praying while Caleb's pirate kites fly high from the dunes. Praying all over town. Praying in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. They are brothers and sisters and they are not going to let this tragedy go down It's as simple as that. They are not going to let it happen.
Each day as Caleb wiggles a toe or blinks an eyelid or comes off the life-support and takes a breath on his own, the prayers are rampant. The young women sew leis for the off-shore surfer circle. Donation cans are stuffed and emptied five times a day. Tourists in restaurants read the news and voice their rational, judgmental, negative opinions and are blasted out of their coffee cups by the waitresses. Only positive thoughts for Caleb!
Now I am drawn into the circle of prayer by my twenty-five year old daughter. Beside the pirate flag we light the candles at the vigil on Town Hall lawn for Caleb, the much loved shellfisherman and surfer. Tomorrow undergoing brain surgery. Tonight, hands held, the prayer circle rings three deep to include two hundred and fifty people; octogenarians and three week old babes and the rescue squad who picked up his pieces. The gathering swells. Chanting soars. Only positive vibration is accepted.
Here I am uplifted by the hope, the determination, the force and yes, the know-how of this young crop of people.
It's here again. The hope. It can not be dismissed.
I don't know how they know how to do it. The drumming. The chanting. But it's here again. A gift of the spirit.
And I'm thinking because I've felt it before, and I've witnessed it go down just as I've witnessed the local fishing fleet go down, that these are the people who can do it. These twenty to thirty year olds. This generation. This good crop. They can raise the young man, brother, lover, son, best friend, beloved, raise him off his death bed. They can sustain the local traditional industries. They can collectively raise natural wind and solar resources to replace death-bound oil. They can find a way to feed the people. They can spread healthcare to those who can't afford it. They can. They will.
For God's sake they've even brought me into it! No longer tottering on the edge of skepticism and cynicism, I can say 'we' again. We will do it.
I'm with them. I'll give them all I've got.
Because this crop has given me back what had slowly hemorrhaged away these past forty years. Hope.
Hope.
More power to us all.
Edie Sweet July10th, 2007
TRURO — A local assistant preschool teacher was killed and three other motorists were injured in a multiple-vehicle crash on Route 6 yesterday afternoon.
Edith Sweet, 55, of Peter's Pond Road, died when her Ford Escort station wagon was struck head-on by David Gilman, 63, of Truro, who was heading north toward Provincetown in a Subaru Outback at about 4:30 p.m., Truro police Sgt. David Perry said.
Sweet's 15-year-old daughter, Suzanne Sweet Davis, a freshman at Nauset Regional High School and a passenger in her mother's Escort, was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening, Perry said.
A third car, a Toyota SUV driven by Katherine Stillman, 64, of Wellfleet, was behind Sweet's station wagon. It was struck lightly by Sweet's vehicle, and Stillman was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with non-life-threatening injures, Perry said.
Police said Gilman crossed the center line and struck Sweet's vehicle in the front, with most of the impact affecting the driver's side of Sweet's car.
Sweet was trapped in the vehicle and declared dead at the scene, according to police.
Gilman had to be extracted from his Outback by the Truro Fire Department and was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with serious injuries that were not considered life threatening, Perry said.
A longtime Truro resident, Sweet had two daughters, her oldest, Anna, is in her 20s, said Elizabeth "Titi" Yingling, a close friend of Sweet. "This is going to be very rough on that little family," Yingling said.
Sweet raised her girls in Truro, where she also taught swimming lessons in the summer. She was a popular fixture in the preschool classroom at Truro Central School, known for her creative projects, and her sense of humor.
"She would bring pine needles and grass to school, those were her art supplies," Yingling said.
Sweet would place home-made wooden houses in the sandbox, then pretend to discover them, much to the delight of the children, Yingling said.
An artist, Sweet had recently sold several paintings and used the money to buy, among other things, good winter boots, Yingling said.
"She was frugal like that, but generous, she paid her bills and then had $5 left at the end of the week, and she was happy with those $5," Yingling said.
While Perry didn't know last night whether Sweet was wearing a seat belt, Yingling had no doubt.
"She drove my kids around all the time, and she would tell them, the car doesn't work unless you put your seat belts on," Yingling said.
I joint all Wellfleetians/Truroians(?) in their sadness about the loss of another incredible resident. Thank you for re-posting Edie's beautiful commentary. Judi/StPaul
Ellen C.
Thank you so much for posting Edie's blog from July. What powerful words. We have lost an incredible woman. Our hearts go out to Anna and Suzanne.
Dear Von Lindsay/Von Potter,and Sweet/David Familys,
We have so much to be grateful for this day. Caleb coming home, being alive and with his family...and loving community.
All these Blessings do not go un-noticed, and we continue grateful. But, in a moment things do change, and now there is another family grieving for a family member lost. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to Anna and Sue for the loss of their precious mother. May you be comforted by the loving community and family who will sustain you through this time of need, anguish, and deep sorrow. Please know that this incredible loving community is capable of much, and I believe you will not be alone, and never far from thought of those who know and love you.
Please accept our love, thoughts and prayers, and may you be sustained in Light and Love always.
Sharyn, Mari and I cannot be there this afternoon, but present in spirit. PLease count us in as "long distant" supports/healers, who look forward to meeting you and your wonderful family some day in the very near future. Until that day....
Be well,
Blessings,
Con Todo Carino,
Melinda y MariElena
I am filled with sadness for the passing of a woman I will never know, but who I suspect I would have thoroughly enjoyed. I am filled with sadness for the daughters left motherless in the blink of an eye. I am filled with sadness for potential unfulfilled; a hole left in the fabric of life in Truro and Wellfleet, a pre-school sand box bereft of tiny mag-appearing houses.
I am, however, also filled with the hopeful spirit of Edie Sweet; a spirit and energy and presence that she so eloquently conveyed with well chosen words. I'm certain that those who knew her will carry that spirit forward....and I will try - every day - to honor the Hope, too.
Caleb's journey - the MIRACLE that is Caleb - is all about that hope. I have been privileged to be included here and owe a debt of gratitude to this family - this remarkable, HOPEFUL community - for allowing me in and sharing the wealth.
My heart is with you all as you meet on this undeniably sad but brilliantly sunny, completely HOPEFUL afternoon.
Love, Love, Love -
Susan
My love and prayers are with this family.
I don't think I could say it better than Susan in Portsmouth. I am so sorry for the loss you have all endured and am equally hopeful for not only the Potter/Lindsay family, but for the generation that Edie Sweet wrote about so poignantly.
Mom in CT
Sharyn,
We had a WONDERFUL time at your home today...Sorry about MY Caleb on the kitchen floor the whole time...3yr olds...ya know...lol! ;) I think it was just alot for him. But aside from that, I think that the meeting was very productive, and went very well. Please don't forget that if you need any help with Landscaping to give me a ring. I will be MORE THAN HAPPY to help in anyway I can. I didn't sign-up for anything on the sheet of paper going around...maybe I got a little distracted, but I actually think that my place would be better helping in other ways than Caleb directly because I think that there are people that were far closer to Caleb pre-accident that should have the priviledge of that...MY HUSBAND, CEDAR, SKY, ANNE, etc, etc. I just think that it's not my place over any of them. Thanks again for the wonderful meeting, Sharyn...I hope that Caleb's headache went away by now. Please tell him, "Hello".
And ANNA,
If you read this....Please know that there were many-a-hearts at the meeting today that were with you and your family. If you need anything, please don't be shy....We would love to help you.
Nicole Miner
what happened at the meeting,im sorry i couldn't be there in person but my thoughts are with you all!
Anna and Suzanne, if you see this please know that Adin and I love you both very much and are thinking about you and sending all of our love to the Cape this weekend. We will hold you both, and the memory of your amazing and wonderful mother, close to our hearts.
Anna and Sue our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Lesa and Shelagh
I will send love and hope to her family so they may find the strength to walk where they are destined to walk. My prayers go out to them especially in this dark time. Remember her greatness, her intelligence, her beauty of life. As always love, well wishes, and prayers for the Potter/Lindsay Clan.
Love, Rachael
We wake up each morning (if we are lucky) to face each new day, never knowing what is in store for us. We take for granted the mundane tasks of daily life: going to work, picking up groceries, doing a little shopping, coming home , making dinner, reading, sleeping, and dreaming, only to wake up and do it all again. It is so easy to become complacent, and I fear that that is the state of most people today....living by rote. Those of us that have followed this blog for these past few months have learned, in very painful and immediate ways, that life can change drastically in the wink of an eye. We have learned to be ever vigilant of the precious thing we call life, We have learned to channel positivity, to love harder, pray more, to believe and to never stop hoping. Nothing should be taken for granted, as nothing is a given. Our time on this planet may be finite, but our capacity to influence lives infinite.
My heart weeps for two young women I have never met. I know the pain of losing a mother and I am saddened anew by the loss of theirs. I will pray for peace and solace for all of us.
As always, with hope,
peg from PA
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