Trying to fit into my new world where old friends look at me with suspicious eyes and wonder why I am not spending my few moments free with them, instead of with seeminly stangers, is difficult at best......but while at MGH I read a wonderful little book written by Emily Post-- The book on grieving.. which focused on manners for the persons close to someone who had suffered loss..and I found myself fasinated with the subject ...
In many ways, we as a family feel we are grieving over the loss of someone we once knew - Caleb- still alive, but so very different from the boy we recognized heart to heart., eye to eye....the very same way our friends knew and recognized him. Our new friends only know him as he is now, and somehow this is a release, a comfort. No-one expects anything out of him who did not know him before, what they see--- is what they get! Emily wrote that friends will know that they may fall by the way side for awhile, we do not only not recognize Caleb, but we do not recognize our friends as well...we are now changed persons - our lives have transformed . Please forgive us -we still love all of you.
Today would have been Jan's 58th birthday..and as I tip a glass of wine to my lips in celelbration of his birth, his life, I want to impress on you the idea that once we are gone, we are gone. It is different now without him walking the face of this Earth. He is still with us, but not as plausable . I say why not live bigger than life while you are still here- what in Earth holds us back from becoming all that we should/ could be? Death.. whenever it comes, and however it happens,from this standpoint of view, is so very final.. Laugh, love, live, be still, be true, and love yourself...each of us is all that we are have! Be unique - stand out, be alive, be just who you are - it is the greatest gift you can give yourself...and in truth, the best gift you could ever offer up to someone else!
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On the fourth of July, 2007 Caleb Potter was involved in a skateboarding accident.
He suffered serious injuries and continues to need all of our positive thoughts and prayers.
This blog is to serve as a space for updates on Caleb's journey of recovery.
He suffered serious injuries and continues to need all of our positive thoughts and prayers.
This blog is to serve as a space for updates on Caleb's journey of recovery.
Adding Comments
Please feel free to add your comments to the blog. All you have to do is click on the number of comments at the bottom of one of the postings. Then write your comment in the box provided on the right side of the screen. Thank you to all of you who have been commenting so far; we're creating quite the community on here! Be well...
A BIG Thank You
In this season of giving thanks and celebrating family togetherness, I wish to extend a warm thank you to everyone who has been involved in a myriad of ways with my son, Caleb Potter, and his recovery. On July 4, he was involved in a skateboarding accident in our little hometown of Wellfleet on Cape Cod, that caused him serious injuries. He came home from Spaulding Rehab in Boston just before Thanksgiving. Through the blog we started:
http://calebpotter.blogspot.com/
the Wellfleet community of support stretched far and wide across the country, and in fact, throughout parts of the world, with many people offering prayers and words of wisdom. We could not have come so far without this legion of support from all of you, in Wellfleet and beyond. We are sincerely grateful.
Sharyn L. Lindsay and family
http://calebpotter.blogspot
the Wellfleet community of support stretched far and wide across the country, and in fact, throughout parts of the world, with many people offering prayers and words of wisdom. We could not have come so far without this legion of support from all of you, in Wellfleet and beyond. We are sincerely grateful.
Sharyn L. Lindsay and family
DONATIONS
THE CALEB POTTER
BENEFIT FUND
Donations may be made in person at any branch of Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank or mailed to the bank at P.O. Box 697, Wellfleet, MA 02667.
Thank you SO MUCH
for your contributions.
With love,
from all of Caleb's friends and family
BENEFIT FUND
Donations may be made in person at any branch of Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank or mailed to the bank at P.O. Box 697, Wellfleet, MA 02667.
Thank you SO MUCH
for your contributions.
With love,
from all of Caleb's friends and family
Official Information
If you have questions about calebpotter.blogspot.com,
email Sky at:
novembersky.freysscole@gmail.com
email Sky at:
novembersky.freysscole@gmail.com
For Sending Cards etc.
Caleb Potter
c/o Sharyn Lindsay
45 Sapokonish Way
Wellfleet, MA
02667
(please be respectful)
c/o Sharyn Lindsay
45 Sapokonish Way
Wellfleet, MA
02667
(please be respectful)
MORE POSTS!
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7 comments:
My Dear Sharyn,
Continued thoughts of healing flow your way, along with open arms ready to embrace you at a moments notice. My thoughts are with you as you pass through the memories that have made your life bitter sweet, knowing that you are richer for the experience. This day your mourn the loss of a dear one in your life, and remember and celebrate the lives of those still with you. This night we celebrate LIFE in all it's abundance, in all it's uniqueness, grateful for the opportunity of participating in every way that it is presented to us, good, bad, happy, sad....
Tonight we celebrate life, and all it's gifts~
Que duermes con los angelitos,
con todo carino,
Melinda
Sharyn, all of your words strike so close to the bone for me; we never really know what we have until we no longer have it and the period of adjusting to the loss can seem interminable. But adjust we do, bit by bit, and we have to learn how to live in this new configuration as well as we can, with as much grace as we can muster. I am sure that the folks in your community can come to terms with the changes over time.
Your advise on how to spend one's time on this planet is wise and forthright and is something that, unfortunately, it takes many a lifetime to realize. It is too bad that oftentimes it takes sadness and loss to open our eyes to what is really important but so long as we recognize what matters and act on it, we have gained a blessing in spite of ourselves.
Sharyn,
Once again, your words are the words of wisdom, sadly,this knowlegde is often only aquired through hardships, sorrow and profound loss.
The light at the end is that we who have learned these tough lessons can do just as you are, and remind ourselves and others to live our authentic lives to the fullest. It is really all that matters in the end.
I tip a glass with you,to all that we miss, all that we yearn for and all that lies ahead....
Light and love, as always,
Nancy in NY
Sharyn,
Emily had it right on. I learned this when I was blessed, after a crisis, with "new" friends who knew me in the NOW. I share in your thoughts about celebrating the loss and the life of someone as I do this time of the year, too.
Very GOOD advice, old friend! Love to you at this anniversary and every other...El
Sharyn i couldn't agreee with you more. it's the hardest thing we face i think is grieving. I still have a hard time putting on a smile to all the friends and fun around me, its challenging, im thinking of you.
Sharyn,
The machine ate my long and beautiful post. But now I'm going to practice my meditative breathing and try to surmount my rage. OK, back to you.
Sharyn,
I was thinking about you today as I listened to an amazing NPR broadcast with the monk Tich Nhat Hanh on NPR's Faith program. You can hear it as a podcast here: http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/speakingoffaith/programs/2009/06/04/20090604_thichnhathanh_128.mp3
If you aren't tech savvy that way here's what he said. It struck home for me because Alexandra, who you may remember as an adorable butterball from age 3-8 is now, at age 10, kind of a frightened, anxious, worried child. The world is too much with her and she suffers anxiety about everything--dogs, shots, illness, the future, embarrassment, her weight, I.Mean.Everything.
At any rate, Thay, as his students call him, was talking about suffering from a Buddhist perspective and from his own perspective which, since the Vietnam war, has included the notion that we have to both embrace suffering and our own suffering (both large and small) and also embrace pleasure and joy. He said that he would not choose, if he could, to raise a child in a world without suffering--as the Buddha was raised--because such a child could never grow as a person, never reach true compassion.
As I looked at Alexandra, who is wrestling every day with such a self imposed burden of worry and suffering, I really felt the importance of what he was saying in a totally new way. Its as though he pulled a curtain back and showed me that all the worst things that I worry about, as a mother, are just a natural part of life. We can surmount them, or let them crush us, but we can't avoid them.
Your brief essays make me think the same thing. I'm going to raise a glass to you, and the New Caleb, and all the children tonight and remind myself to make the most of this brief time betwixt dawn and dusk.
Kate Gilbert
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