Saturday, April 19, 2014

Scott R.I.P.


Scott   R.I.P.


We shouldn't forget, with all this Quicksilver Times business, that this is, finally and always, about death.

And here Death is again.

Have called Death my familiar for couple of decades now, and it was for decades before I claimed it.

My boy Scott is dead.

He was a sorta son. Lived with us a few teenage years, my sister’s boy. Was broken, Scott was, but beautiful.

Two days before my three-quarter century birthday - last week, I watched him take his last breath. 

Can’t pretend that I’m anything but fogged about it. All the old memories jumbled up together, the terrible process of the leave-taking, the morphine titration that depressed his respirations and set him free after almost two days instead of compassionate release so much earlier, the inability to find and hold close to the boy, and man, I loved in the Cheyne-Stokes breathing brokenbrokenbroken body we all sat with, has left me tired in a new way.

Not even sure what that means. But it reminds me and draws what focus I have to the passing. The almost unbearable passing. Light to darkness. Darkness to light.

At Scott’s memorial service I could find the light that Scott radiated. But only in its absence. And in the hundred faces I spoke to that night I felt a gathering together, a multifaceted dark star gathering in solitude seeking connection. And they did. We did. Even that dark connection was temporary. 

After   the ritual, as we shared cookies and coffee, tea and famous Sheboygan dessert “bars”, the darkness was tempered, the connection sweet. But even as we shared I could feel them being drawn outward. The ritual done, the darkness validated, now lean back into the whispering solace of the waiting world. Slip back into the moment -so busy, so intriguing, so scary… Pass back.

Now a week has passed. And I struggle for balance. Easter is tomorrow. This Easter Saturday - which we hardly notice, sandwiched between Good Friday and Easter Sunday - attend with me the loss of beautiful Scott - of all this passing.

Is there new understanding of the passing? No, I don’t think so. But it is a repetition. And it needs proper attention, and as many moments as are needed to absorb and heal.

Always, and endless, the passing. And the love.

And in the revolution I call you to, the awakening of each heart births out of the courage to live through and examine the passing. To love through it. And to share it.

You are the revolution. You are tomorrow’s Dawn. You are the Easter. You are the risen.

I love you.

bill

11 comments:

  1. I am so sorry to learn of Scott's passing. I am so sorry for your loss, and for Delores's loss. I have experienced the pain of losing a loved one, but, thank God, have never had to endure losing a child. I pray that I never will. Delores has lost both of her beautiful children. My thoughts and prayers go out to her, Scott, you, Chris, and and all of the Schaefer family. R.I.P., Scott.

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  2. A beautiful tribute from a loving Uncle for a beautiful soul lost way too soon. I love you Bill. I love your heart, so giving, so open.

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  3. Beautiful words and deeply felt emotion. Thank you Bill for sharing so much of yourself with the world and with the one that is each an everything that makes us human. Love. Paula Rose

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    1. Thank you Paula. I know this opens old wounds. My heart is with you.

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  4. Your love surrounds us all. Taking strength from those who remain is essential. Love you Bill

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  5. I'm pretty sure that what those fellas said, "the love you take is equal to the love you make," is spot on. You have put so much love out in the world, hell, you are love, that I guarantee there will be no shortage of love to surround you in your time of need and always. I'm so so sorry about your loss, I wish that it was easy to mend a broken heart, fill a hole, bring back what was lost... I hope that you, and your family, feel the loving energy being sent to surround you. Love and peace be with all of you.

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