November 8 —Arrival back in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area. Awakening to frost on the front windshield, boy it’s cold. Plenty of blankets to keep us warm while sleeping in the van, but, as you know, we had wanted to travel with the warm weather and stay to the south at this time of year.
With no current photos, I am included some from the past. Here is a photo from 1979 when I was juggling instructor at RBBB clown college–at the young age of 19.
Tina’s mom needs our help, so here we are. As I wrote in the last blog, she is 95 years old and in the hospital right now. In a week she gets out and we will need to be with her to help take care of her.
It’s all like a dream that we were in San Diego go recently.
So, after more than a year traveling and living in a van, we have settled near Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Back to the city with many people.
Back to the cold.
Schedules, appointments, yikes!
Eating at restaurants and in the kitchen.
Already missing:
Wilderness.
Wild animals.
Rivers and lakes.
The freedom.
So, as I wrote before, Tin Tina’s mom is just getting out of the hospital and, at age 95, has no one to take care of her, so here we are. I almost feel like we are waiting around until Marion Miller’s death?, a strange feeling. But, we will be getting back to the wilderness now-and-then, allowing someone else to be with her.
Death is a strange thing. No one can decide “not” to die, we will all get there. Yet, although inevitable, few people talk about what is on the way. Before I go, there are things I want to accomplish, people I want to meet, and places I want to go to. Yet, with this limited time, will I get there? How about you, are there things you want to get done before your demise?
What gets me is the people who live like there is no end and just glide through life doing as little as they can until the end. Remember you only die once, you must live every day.
I did not work hard on this blog this week for you, next week I will have more for your eyes to peruse.
From my book series, Beyond Your Potential.
==============================================
BEYOND YOUR POTENTIAL
The Comeback Kit,
From Coma to Comedy
BOOK ONE – ACCIDENT
A Series of Books to Change Your Life
By Kit Summers
CHAPTER TWO
RECOVERY OR DEATH
“See your upcoming death
as a way to push yourself to
aim beyond your potential”
Kit Summers
As I was recovering from my 37 day coma , my mind was not thinking right for a time, but I had had a good life so far and had a strong will to live. Death had knocked on my door; I refused to open the gate.
In a way, we are the ones who sometimes choose when we want to leave this life we live. Of course, recovery and moving ahead were much better, or I couldn’t have written this book to help you in your life.
My life didn’t end in either accident, but the experiences made me think a great deal about life, and, of course, death. I must say, I have no fear of death, but I have things I need to accomplish before that time, such as making Beyond Your Potential a best seller (with your help, of course.)
During some operations in the past, I was comfortably asleep under anesthesia and knew nothing, which is how I believe death will be; the long sleep and knowing nothing.
Human life is a finite condition; death is imminent, which is a subject seldom discussed.
PREPARE YOUR MIND.
Have you thought about your own death? Or what you want to accomplish before that end result? Time to get to what you want to realize in the time you have left—NOW—while you are still alive?
When recovering from injuries and serious setbacks in my life, at times I have been quite upset about my losses. I did think about suicide at times—how easy it would be to just let go and “pass away.”
I would no longer have to work or worry or suffer, and no more great tragedies would befall me.
SUICIDE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE EASY WAY OUT.
After thinking more about it, I saw that suicide was the most selfish and lazy thing one could ever do. You get relief, but all those who know you will suffer your demise.
Over the years, the idea of writing this book helped to keep me on track, and even kept me alive.
Helping you through my thoughts became a new passion, and I had to make the time to
finish this collection of words.
Because of my major accidents, I lost some of my time and saw that we do have a limited time here on Earth. With the time remaining to me, I wanted to accomplish something that could help the human race, which is part of the reason I wrote this book.
I HOPE THESE WORDS ARE ADDING TO YOUR LIFE.
With advancement in medical technologies, which ultimately saved my life, humankind is able to live longer than we ever have. I was on the threshold of death a few times, but was kept alive; I had to keep going.
If the doctors had “pulled the plug,” I may not be here today. I was told that if my first accident had happened five years prior to when it did, I would not have made it.
When someone is in an irreversible coma, should the plug be pulled?
DEATH IS THE ONE THING THAT REALLY SCARES MOST PEOPLE ON EARTH.
In Western society, which is materialistic and progress oriented, death is often ignored, not talked about, evaded, and denied.
WE CAN’T COUNT ON ANYTHING IN LIFE—EXCEPT DEATH.
Yet, wouldn’t it be a hard life if you went on living forever? It would also get quite boring, too, don’t you think?
During my recoveries, I decided I wanted to do something to help people on this earth we live on.
I read a fabulous quote by Horace Mann: “Until you have done something to advance human life, you should be ashamed to die.”
I AM HOPEFUL THIS SERIES OF BOOKS WILL FULFILL MY OBLIGATION.
I knew that the more I helped others, the more I was motivated to live because of my efforts. The results I saw kept me on track. As I helped others, I kept working toward advancement and didn’t settle for death.
Yet, I knew living with the knowledge that eventually every one of us is going to die is much harder than dying. While in the hospital, I tried to motivate and encourage other patients. Doing so helped to stabilize my mind and preserved my will to live on, on my way to an old age?
Some people who have died at the age of eighteen have lived fuller lives than others who loitered about to the age of ninety-three. It’s not that we have to accomplish a great deal in life. It’s about living fully each and every day.
Take time out to enjoy the sunshine, to watch clouds and sunsets, to work on your book, to juggle, to enjoy a flower opening, to see, experience and appreciate all the wonderful little things that life has to offer.
Take a moment to examine your own life, and, ultimately, your death.
· Have you ever thought about the time when you will not b e here?
· Are there things left you want to accomplish before that time?
· Is there someone whose life you can start helping?
It is never too late to start living and growing—to change your life and go in a different direction.
It is inevitable that you are going to die, and because this is the only life we truly know we have, enjoy this day to the fullest, and live for an even better tomorrow.
DO THIS DAILY.
In this highly advanced world, perhaps we do not talk about death very much because it reminds us of our vulnerability: that we are all on the way out, death will come, whatever age you are now.
The worst of all deaths to think about is that of an innocent child—a life cut short without even having a chance to experience anything. You are not that child. You are alive, keep pressing forward as your life grows.
In a way, death is the final growth that life has to offer. Whether you are rich or poor, successful or struggling, death strikes at random. Death is an integral part of human existence, but for so many this thought does not even come to mind.
Some people live life as if they were going to live forever, as if an hour does not matter, or a day, or a year, or a decade. They let the time drain away like so many grains of sand in an hourglass, and when their time is up; they look back and wonder where their life went.
Only then do they begin to think of all the wonderful things that could have been and what they could have become. Often they think of what they missed at a point when it could be too late, and now they are scared of their death.
YOU MUST NOT WAIT FOR THIS POINT, START NOW ON YOUR FUTURE (WITH YOUR DEATH IN MIND)
By facing the finite nature of our own existence, we can learn not to be bothered by small matters or succumb to depression.
WE ALL HAVE THINGS TO DO, WE MUST GET TO THEM.
We see that it is up to each one of us to design and build our own future, knowing that death will eventually come.
Speaking of death, what truly scares me is that Earth may die because of humans. We need to start taking better care of this planet we live on and which affects all our lives.
YOU CAN DO YOUR PART TO HELP THIS PLANET WE LIVE ON. START TODAY!
It is time to face your own death and push yourself now, while you still have the opportunity to make your dreams a reality.