Topic: You Know Life Is Like A Game Of Cards UPDATED!

[bill440cars]

       I play Solitaire a few times a day (on my pc) and suddenly, the thought came to me (not something others haven't thought of before, I'm a little slow at SOME things), that life is LIKE that game of Solitaire.
 
      You can be going along with things going pretty well and suddenly,
without a notice, IT'S OVER! Doesn't matter if it's the game of cards OR real life. There's NO warning!

      Over the last few days, my mind has been wondering back and forth with what happened to us AND attempting to focus on NOW and ahead as well. Oh, I'm moving ahead, but I'm remembering times we had and things we did, along with the things we WANTED to do. I guess the main thing that keeps popping up is the fact that we hadn't had much time to ourselves, in quite a while AND I was working on getting some time for us to go out to eat alone and being able to spend
some time together (just the 2 of us). And then came the morning of JULY THE FIRST!
      

                             Just some thoughts, Bill        

[tramp]

life is what you make of it
bad things happen and good things happen
it all depends how you react to each

[demon78]

You know Bill my old man looked at me years ago after he moved to the States and California and said well boy I'm going to retire and take "Matilda" our 1970 VW Westphalia camper van and your mother and we're going to tour North America from the southern states to all the provinces of the "great white north" essentially from the Florida Keys to Moosenee in Ont and maybe up the Alcan Highway to Alaska, well he retired and couldn't handle it so went back to work for a couple of years and finally said that's it we're going, unfortunately 6 months before, my mother started to get sick ( they thought she was drinking too much turns out it was Parkinson's) so, when it came time to go she couldn't, they couldn't and he spent the next while until he died, worrying and caring for her while she went from a strong vibrant woman to something that looked and acted like a Bergen-Belsen inmate, so if the silly old bugger had retired like he was supposed to and toured, they would have had the joy the trip would have provided before every thing went to #$%*. What do I take from this, life is at the best an uncertain thing and if you have a chance to grab you're sweetie every once and a while and tell the rest of the world piss off, this is our moment then take it and if it annoys the gods or family then that's their problem, because like you and my old man found out, you'll regret, you will regret it for the rest of you're life, so next time when the world encroaches, think and take what you need for yourself to. Thus endeth the lesson. Am I any better, no but I'm trying.
Bill the demon.

[Markcb750]

The fact the randomness within a set of rules is true for the smallest particles and the largest object we can observe is the only sense I can put on the world/universe.


A tragedy like Haiti is understandable as a random event, unacceptable/irrational as part of a plan.  

Despite what Newton and Einstein wanted to be true, Forest Gump's "life is like a box of chocolates" is the foundation to our universe.


#$%* Happens.


Sorry for your loss.

[bill440cars]

     Bill, It's really bad, when something like that happens. I really hate to hear that your Mom had to go like that. I've been concerned about my Dad having to go through that as well. Fortunately, before MY Mom died, my Parents had been retired since 1985 and by the time my Mom passed away on Feb of 2002, they had done SOME sight seeing and such
. They had in fact, just a couple of years earlier, gone by them selves and traveled out to the West Coast and up North coming back through North Dakota, sight seeing AND visiting relatives in California and North Dakota. Then, my Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and they were going to remove the part of the lung that was cancerous, but when they got in there, they found out that she didn't have that much that was good. So, they sewed her back up and started treatments. This was in the summer of 2001. Things rocked along for a little bit and then they realized that the cancer had showed up at the base of her brain. So, they did surgery to remove it and felt that things went very well. Wasn't long before Christmas and she was home for that and we all were there, but she wasn't doing real well. She tried to act like she was feeling better than she did, but we (or at least Brenda & I) knew better. Next thing we knew, Dad had to take her back to the hospital because she was getting real weak and her Doctor hospitalized her They found that the cancer had spread all inside the lower part of her body). I'd go down, stay for 2 days, come back home for a day and go down again for 2 days and did that for about a month, trying to make sure that my Dad ate regularly and properly (he was a diabetic by then). I couldn't really do anything for my Mom because it wasn't long before she was in a coma. Wasn't long before they had done all they could do and were going to move her to the Nursing Home in the small town where they lived close to (and my Grandmother, my Mom's Mom, was in THAT same Nursing Home and this made ME nervous about her finding out that her Daughter was there, in that condition). But, on the Day that I was back home taking care of some things here, my Sister called and said that Mom had died. Thing is, My Mom had been put in an ambulance to be taken to that Nursing Home and as the attendants were making some last minute checks, she quietly passed away, before they could get started.
Of course, I stopped what I was doing and headed back down there. My Sister was able to be there more for My Dad, than I could be and I'm Proud of that, but about a year after my Mom died and Margaret had helped so much with Dad, SHE died.
     
   
 

[bill440cars]

life is what you make of it
bad things happen and good things happen
it all depends how you react to each

That's a fact and you might think you've done pretty well, but there'll
always be the "What IF's" and "I should of's".         

[bill440cars]

The fact the randomness within a set of rules is true for the smallest particles and the largest object we can observe is the only sense I can put on the world/universe.


A tragedy like Haiti is understandable as a random event, unacceptable/irrational as part of a plan.  

Despite what Newton and Einstein wanted to be true, Forest Gump's "life is like a box of chocolates" is the foundation to our universe.


#$%* Happens.


Sorry for your loss.

 Thank you Mark, most of the time, nowadays, I'm doing fairly well. But, there are times when I am suddenly thrust right back into it (in my mind anyway). Then I think back to WHEN it happened, things that happened before that day in July AND things that took place afterwards. I usually work through it after a bit and IF I am having a difficult time with it, I call up a very close friend and we talk for awhile (sometimes I go over there to talk, if it's really upsetting me). I'm doing fairly well now, but there are times that, she's REALLY on my mind.     

[Don R]

It's nice that our hobbies can lead to us having an extended family of friends. Drag racing has given my family new friends all around the country and here we have friends from the entire world. I was on the Jr. Drag race forum a few years ago and one of the members in Hawiaia unexpectedly died. I felt a true sense of loss. Someone I had never seen or heard his voice. We did share a similar sense of humor pranking the forum once in a while.

[bill440cars]

It's nice that our hobbies can lead to us having an extended family of friends. Drag racing has given my family new friends all around the country and here we have friends from the entire world. I was on the Jr. Drag race forum a few years ago and one of the members in Hawiaia unexpectedly died. I felt a true sense of loss. Someone I had never seen or heard his voice. We did share a similar sense of humor pranking the forum once in a while.

           That's exactly the way I feel about HERE! When someone's out of pocket for a bit, or suddenly leaves with no word, it affects me. Now, someone here who would die, I don't even want to think about that. But YES, THIS is definitely FAMILY! And, it IS amazing how attached a person can get, to folks you've never personally met.  


         BTW, today (Feb 1st) makes 7 Months and before I know what has happened to time, I'll be looking at July the FIRST, all over again (marking 1 year that will have gone by since Brenda's passing).

         Time flies, whether you are having FUN or NOT!

[tramp]

your still here
question is do you get going and do new things
or stay the same
when something like that happens in my life i remember the good times
but start new good times

[bill440cars]

your still here
question is do you get going and do new things
or stay the same
when something like that happens in my life i remember the good times
but start new good times

          You are right, I am STILL here. I am trying to move on and it is SLOW going, I can tell you. AND I keep getting pulled back somewhat, at times. I definitely remember the GOOD times and thing is, WE were doing those times for over 38 years (38 and 1/2) and it Ain't easy, it's like starting over only, I'm not that young anymore. I've got all kinds of thoughts going through my head like (for example) there are things in our home that were Brenda's (like her piano, her curio cabinet with her Santa Clause collection, her spoon collection (that has only about 4 empty spots, thanks to SOHC4 folks who have graciously chipped spoons from their locations AND I THANK YOU ALL for that) and pictures that have been on our walls for nearly 29 years (not to mention photo albums and keepsakes of her's from her early years at home with her folks. All of this not only takes up room, I don't think I could just put it in storage, if I were to meet someone who I could take up with (and even though Karla, my Daughter has said that what ever would make ME happy, is what she wants, I don't know how she would take, having this stuff removed from the home. And I don;t know how I would be about that either). I guess, my problem now, is all of the "What ifs". Or maybe the "What would I do, IF".

        You see, I KNOW these things:

         1. I KNOW that Brenda is gone
         2. I know that I HAVE to move on with MY life
         3. I know I have to make sure My Daughter is taken care of
         4. I know that I have to take care of my Dad AND FINISH what
             He and I started with the S & S Team (kinda backed off for a
             bit til I could try to get my act BACK together again)
         5. I know that I have to keep my Dad pacified ( he has an
            anurisum on the main aorta by his stomach and the Doctors   
            don't want to operate because they are convinced that he
            wouldn't survive the surgery. So, I have to try to make sure
            he doesn't get his blood pressure up, as the thing could burst
            and he'd be gone.
        6. I know that Life goes on and we need to go on as well.
        7. AND I KNOW that the support and understanding from here
            has Helped me SO much AND I Thank You All for THAT!
        8. I know that God will see me through all things and I also feel
            that I came to this place, for a reason, that I didn't know
            about and that was  because of all the fantastic support I
            would get here. No One will convince me that I am wrong
            about that.

 
            Understand, I'm NOT losing it, I am just letting you all in
on things that go through MY head off and on nearly every day. And I think that the fact that I can hold a decent conversation about Cars, Bikes or whatever, says alot about my (even though slowly) getting my act together. My conversations here, will be getting even more so about mechanical things and yet giving support as it is needed by others. I can tell, in my everyday life, that I am starting to finally be able to start getting things organized again and I AM feeling GOOD about that, I can tell you.
       

            Thank you ALL for Listening AND for ALL of you kind
              and supporting words,   Bill

[tramp]

cool, your on your way

[bill440cars]

cool, your on your way

         Yeah, and I have to say that it does feel good to be starting to get a handle on things again. I was starting to feel like a roulette wheel, I was spinning and didn't know where I was going to be, when I stopped.   But I AM starting to get somethings accomplished and it feels so good.  Now, if only SPRING would get on in here (yeah, I know we just got into Feb), so I can get out more and get one of these bikes out on the road, so I can go off for an hour or two and feel the openness out on the road with nobody around. Just ME and the BIke (the CBX, to be exact). Yeah, just Me and the whine of the CBX, for Music!   Til then, I will continue to get things more in line around here.
                            Thanks to You All, for putting up with me, Bill    

[Don R]

On one car site I go to there is a fellow who claims the group as his clan. Maybe that is what we are.

[bill440cars]

On one car site I go to there is a fellow who claims the group as his clan. Maybe that is what we are.

        Hey Don, Clan or Family, there are a number of us who feel THAT IS what We Are!   AND, I definitely DO!

 
       Especially since I lost my brother to jealousy and greed! I have picked up a host of Brothers AND Sisters her, far as I am concerned!