• Dimensions Magazine is a vibrant community of size acceptance enthusiasts. Our very active members use this community to swap stories, engage in chit-chat, trade photos, plan meetups, interact with models and engage in classifieds.

    Access to Dimensions Magazine is subscription based. Subscriptions are only $29.99/year or $5.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched library of knowledge and friendship.

    Click Here to Become a Subscribing Member and Access Dimensions Magazine in Full!

Size acceptance? How about life [ and death ] acceptance?

Dimensions Magazine

Help Support Dimensions Magazine:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ho Ho Tai

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
1,947
Location
,
Friends -
I sent this originally to a specific friend but decided to distribute it more widely. I think that many of you will relate to this.
Ho Ho Tai

I sorrow with you about your friend with cancer. At my age, I have lost many friends to this disease - and managed to keep some who survived it. Among those I have lost was a dear friend - Marion - who brought [the now Mrs Ho Ho ] with her to Massachusetts to visit me - and thereby hangs a tale.

For now, this vignette from the current copy of YES! magazine is for you and your friend - and me and all of us, because we are all one or two steps ahead of the Old Man with the scythe. This is a wonderful magazine. There is a free on-line newsletter, as well as a paid, but cheap, subscription.

Yes! has had many articles on cancer over the years. You can read them at the link. But the specific article I wanted to send you is entitled "Livingly Dying" by Marcy Westerling. I wasn't able to get the article from YES!. They don't post links for the current issue.This link is to Marcy's blog, from which the article is excerpted. Marcy also has a similar presentation on Youtube - Marcy Westerling - Livingly Dying.

Over the last two years, I have felt several times that Death was near. I think that the Old Man took a few swipes at me, but missed. I'm still here, somewhat the worse for it all, but still making breakfast for Mrs Ho Ho, and still biking, though a bit wobbly.

I passed the article on to Mrs Ho Ho with this comment: "There are many articulate people under a death sentence - as many as there are articulate people, since we all die eventually. I just happened to encounter this one (Marcy) am impressed, and motivated to share."

A google search on Livingly Dying comes up with the sites displayed at the link. I have not investigated many of these. You may, if you wish.


Now, the other links (do you see a connection here?)

One of my music sources is an endowed music and video program called Classic Arts Showcase. They have been available, in whole or in part, on selected public TV stations. It is totally free, and commercial-free, to any station that wants it. Most use it as a filler between more 'important' things, like religious programming, psychics, and city council meetings. Only recently has CAS been streaming over the internet.

The other day, they presented the video of "Old Folks". The words were barely audible to me but I looked it up. You will find below a link to the version I saw, and another link to the words (English translation). You might want to keep a box of Kleenex handy.

I suggest that you open the text in one window and the song in another, to make it easier to follow along.

Jacques Brel "Old Folks" (sung by Elly Stone)


Soundtrack: Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Title: The Old Folks

The old folks don't talk much
And they talk so slowly when they do
They are rich, they are poor, their illusions are gone
They share one heart for two
Their homes all smell of thyme, of old photographs
And an old-fashioned song
Though you may live in town you live so far away
When you've lived too long
And have they laughed too much, do their dry voices crack
Talking of times gone by
And have they cried too much, a tear or two
Still always seems to cloud the eye
They tremble as they watch the old silver clock
When day is through
It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No"
It says, "I'll wait for you."
The old folks dream no more
The books have gone to sleep, the piano's out of tune
The little cat is dead and no more do they sing
On a Sunday afternoon
The old folks move no more, their world's become too small
Their bodies feel like lead
They might look out the window or else sit in a chair
Or else they stay in bed
And if they still go out, arm in arm, arm in arm
In the morning's chill
It's to have a good cry, to say their last good-bye
To one who's older still
And then they go home to the old silver clock
When day is through
It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No"
It says, "I'll wait for you."
The old folks never die
They just put down their heads and go to sleep one day
They hold each other's hand like children in the dark
But one will get lost anyway
And the other will remain just sitting in that room
Which makes no sound
It doesn't matter now, the song has died away
And echoes all around
You'll see them when they walk through the sun-filled park
Where children run and play
It hurts too much to smile, it hurts too much but life goes on
For still another day
As they try to escape the old silver clock
When day is through
It tick-tocks oh so slow, it says, "Yes," it says, "No"
It says, "I'll wait for you."
The old, old silver clock that's hanging on the wall
That waits for us
All

We have a clock like that. It's not that old, and is made of black walnut. I may have sent you pictures of it on a Christmas card. It ticks every six seconds. Every sweep of the pendulum takes us six seconds closer to a time when we won't be together in physical form anymore - but always together in the little universe, portrayed in the picture I sent to you.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top