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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 8, 2010 - 03:07pm PT
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Tomorrow would've been my brother John's 54th birthday. We did a ton of climbing together from 1975 on, and played a lot of music together, too. He was always a bolder leader than I was in the earlier days, and some of the stuff he did still gives me shudders.
This picture was taken after he trudged up to belay me on some Space Wall routes at Donner. He got really winded and couldn't take too many steps without stopping, but he had a great time. Not much after this, he had a lung transplant that he wasn't able to pull through. But like those crazy run-out leads he used to do, he handled it with courage and focus.
I'm grateful for the time we did have. Anyone else out there remembering special people right now?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Most of us here on ST are old enough to have some huge holes in our lives that once were occupied by special people. Parents, brothers and sisters, close friends...
The only way I know of to deal with it is to cherish the memories and to be thankful for all the ways they made the world a better place.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Cheers, Mooser. Sorry about your bro.
I lost a climber gal-buddy not so long ago in a bizarre lead fall. Yeah, I still think of her from time to time. She was a regular partner for the local crag, Castle Rock State Park. I miss her.
Ishun and me in the Valley.
Here's the tribute thread I started for here;
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1026173&tn=0
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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That's tough, mooser. Nice to remember.
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SofCookay
climber
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Sorry for your loss, Mooser. I lost my sister 6 years ago - she was only 35. I miss her every day.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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I miss Woody too, Locker.
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pc
climber
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Nice post Mooser! Bump for your bro.
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 8, 2010 - 08:00pm PT
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Thanks everyone. Wow...as Ghost said, "Most of us here on ST are old enough to have some huge holes in our lives that once were occupied by special people. Parents, brothers and sisters, close friends..."
I'm now finding myself grateful that this thread is affording some others of you the opportunity to share your remembrances, too. Thank you for the encouragement, and for giving everyone (including myself) another glimpse into your world.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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My son Adam
August 1995 to April 2008
Facelift 2007, reconstructing a plate for the Park Archeologist
Next day we climbed Pine Line with two good friends
Learning to Jumar December 2007
So he could put up his swing from an oak limb 20 feet off the ground.
I remember him every day and will for the rest of my life.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Yeah, Dingus, I wish I could have met Brutus. I'm comforted in knowing he made so many people happy though.
He was a good man from what I read and hear.
EDIT: Ah, man, High Traverse, I didn't know that. Sorry for your loss. I can't imagine...
Sorry, dude.
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 8, 2010 - 08:39pm PT
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HighTraverse - I just can't find words for your post, other than...thank you for giving us a glimpse of your beautiful son.
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Norton
Social climber
the Wastelands
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Still think about and miss my father. He left us 15 years ago.
He proposed to my mom in the third grade, they were married 58 years.
She is now 95 in a Catholic nursing home.
And just two weeks ago, my dear friend Heinz passed away at age 75.
For seventeen years together, he taught me so much.
He was warm, kind, with an old world type civility. Wonderful man.
Losing people close to you is just awful.
Condolences to everyone else who has lost people close to them.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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He proposed to my mom in the third grade, they were married 58 years.
She is now 95 in a Catholic nursing home.
Wow! God bless them both. That's old school right there. Very cool too!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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This thread is bumming me out, except for the quality people left behind to rekindle their memories of fallen comrades.
Best website ever.......I love you guys.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Kath, you're one of the peeps that make this place grand.
Keep the magic alive amongst us. It may seem trivial (to others) but your love of this tribe works.
I mean that too. Keep the magic alive, girl!!!!!
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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I've lost many people in my life who mattered more than I ever imagined.
I once thought I was whole, independent. I discovered I was a lot more selfish than that.
Parents, a child, two marriages, many friends well known to those here, have all gone under the bridge. Somehow I am still here, in spite of myself.
I love them all and miss them. I carry the burden of my own memory with me everyday. I wouldn't have it any other way. It would be less than human.
So take that grand advise; kiss them now. Right now. In the final analysis, we , the folks we love, are all we REALLY have. And we only have them NOW. Not yesterday nor tomorrow. Only now. So that is how I have learned to live, because the loss can be over whelming.
My heart goes out to all of us, for our collective loss.
But we are still here, so we have an obligation to act accordingly, to honor ourselves, thereby honoring those who are gone.
Sorry for the rant but this is a subject I feel deeply about.
Peace, Tony
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there all, say... oh my... this is always sad at these times.... but memories are needed to be shared, in order for wonderful folks to be good memories in the lives of those that never knew them, and had missed what they had to give... my mom and her sister, our dear auntie, to all comes to mind, and a few other lesser known incidents, from south texas, and a recent one in the emotional realm of someone dear to us... :(
but equally shared, sometimes, is our pain of others with losses, as even ekat has been feeling here, so i must add this too:
just being there, for friends, gets us over our losses, in powerful ways, and gives life to others...
i have a friend right now, with such overwhelming losses in her home, due to cancer, as to three members---i just thank god right now, that i have the free time, to be there for her... i really want to see her have joy again, and stability... she is fighting so hard to do so...
may the good lord bless our trails, with our needs, at this time...
thanks for sharing, by starting this, so many loved and wonderfl folks are not forgotten in our lives...
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Right now. In the final analysis, we , the folks we love, are all we REALLY have. And we only have them NOW. Not yesterday nor tomorrow. Only now. So that is how I have learned to live, because the loss can be over whelming.
Well said, Tony. We do our fallen buddies justice by continuing their spirit through our lives. Climb on, my friends. Climb on...
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R.B.
Big Wall climber
Land of the Lahar
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Material wealth and possessions mean nothing, because in the long run and in the end, it is the memories that our family and friends have of us, is all we have after we leave!
Long live the memories of lost loved ones!
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Material wealth and possessions mean nothing, because in the long run and in the end, it is the memories that our family and friends have of us, is all we have after we leave!
Long live the memories of lost loved ones!
While somewhat somber, that is the f*#king truth! But as a spiritual man, I find that we just traverse from one existence to another. It's sad to see our friends leave, but maybe they look back at us and smile and say, "Don't be sad, I'm o.k.".
But many would call me naive and misguided. But whatever....
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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this thread is so poignant and special. Climbers, on the surface can often appear tough and "devil may care-ish" however threads like this and Juan memorial threads peel surfaces WAY BACK and reveal the profound emotional depth and the willingness to open up the pain again. At the Facelift that emotional depth and sense of profound loss was palpable in the auditorium the night of the Yabo slides and Border Country movie. One of my favorite stanza's:
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
I miss my Grandmother right now.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Is it OK if I just hug bluering, and don't kiss him? He's kind of furry.
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nita
Social climber
chica from chico, You can call me..mini moo.
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Mooser, I remember that picture of your brother,..remembering keeps their spirit alive. Thanks for starting this thread.
HighTraverse, It was nice to meet you at the facelift...I had no idea about your beautiful son..Sincere condolences... sending you a hug..
Too many of my friends, family members and pets have passed on to another realm...
But..
The first name that came to mind when i saw this post was.. Ouch.
It will be 2 years on the 16th of this month that he left us. Ouch passed away only two weeks after the Facelift,
yet he still managed to posted up some funny facelift cartoons just five days before his passing.
Allie had said "his hands shook and he was very ill."...Amazing man, i never met him..but..I sure miss him. Allie was lucky to have such a great dad....Love you *Ouch...
Always take the time to tell your friends that you love them...
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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And oft, in the stilly night,
ere slumber's chain has bound me,
fond memory brings the light
of other days around me
RIP brother
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Anastasia
climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
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My mom in the days before her illness took over. She was 32 in this picture and a mother of two children. I always wondered what it would have been like to live with her before she became sick.
Now it's only been three months since her passing and it's already been a very long painful time without her.
AFS
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Oct 10, 2010 - 12:55am PT
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Very deep and thoughtful posts my dear ones...As we get on in years, and our friends and compatriots leave our side I can only feel blessed to have known them. I have to remember to cherish those that I have with me today.
Last shot I got of one of my greatest friends, Shawn Curtis, with one of my late Queensland Heelers, Katy...
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MH2
climber
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Oct 10, 2010 - 04:14am PT
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“Not one human being in ten million is really long remembered. For the mass of mankind absolute oblivion, like death, is sure. But what if it is? Should this indubitable fact affect injuriously the mortal life in this world of the ordinary human being? Not at all. For most men and women the enjoyments, interests, and duties of this world are just as real and absorbing, at the moment, as they would be if the enjoying, interested, and dutiful individuals could imagine that they were going to be remembered long on this earthly stage.”
“Isaac Watts did not exaggerate when he wrote:
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away:
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day."
From
John Gilley
Maine Farmer and Fisherman
By
Charles W. Eliot
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mooser
Trad climber
seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 10, 2010 - 06:48pm PT
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I was away from my computer for a couple of days, only to come back and find these very poignant posts from so many quarters. Thanks, all, for your comments, and thank you for posting your own remembrances. We are a multi-faceted bunch who carry our own experiences of joys and pains.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Oct 10, 2010 - 07:54pm PT
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Sorry about your Mom, Ana. It was refreshing to talk to you in Yellow Pines.
Keep being you!!!! You're a chatty gal, but I love ya. See you next year!!!!
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 11, 2010 - 12:50am PT
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Too true. All of it. Way too many to try and think of, all at once. Blessed are those memories.
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MisterE
Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
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Oct 11, 2010 - 01:21am PT
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RIP, Dad. Michael Borghoff:
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Pennsylenvy
Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
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Oct 11, 2010 - 01:27am PT
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LEB.....that is awesome and how I hope I will be.
Locker................................................
yur just a chip of the ol' block
locker
Social climber Oct 8, 2010 - 10:29pm PT
My Dad at 80...
He died five years ago at 89...
Patted a nurse on the butt and winked at me two weeks before he died...
All the way to the end...
LOL!!!...
Dude was COOL!!!...
Credit: locker
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I have been trying to prepare myself for the inevitable. My parents have hero status to me. 82 and 75 years old. They have done so much for us six kids. They lived their lives for us. Wish our generation could come close. Thanks for the thread Moose
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em kn0t
Trad climber
isle of wyde
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Oct 12, 2010 - 04:52pm PT
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Yesterday, after a great day of climbing at Granite Basin, I took some time alone to stand under a tall pine tree by a huge granite boulder twisted and sculpted by the wind, and recited the Indian Death Song that LEB quoted above. But I changed the words (as I always do), saying "you" instead of "I." I sense Brutus's spirit in such places, whether it's laughing in the distant rumbles of thunder, or soaring high above the clouds with the eagles.
Life is eternal, and love is immortal,
and death is only a horizon;
and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
~Rossiter Worthington Raymond
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Oct 12, 2010 - 05:32pm PT
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Beautiful, Em. Thanks for that.
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em kn0t
Trad climber
isle of wyde
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Oct 12, 2010 - 11:07pm PT
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Dingus,
as Brutus would say,
"Today's gift"
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 13, 2010 - 03:10am PT
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Thanks, Em and others. I didn't know Bruce well, having only met him at sushifest at St. George. He seems the sort of person whose spirit is always with you, particularly in the outdoors.
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