A New Path Forward

Dear Family and Friends, I think it is time. I will continue to blog on the blog site listed below but will be taking a break from sending these to individuals. It is time to begin to put these blogs for the past nine months into a book that I might be able to publish. Occasionally I will send them to you in this fashion if I am in need of support and guidance. I cannot express my gratitude to so many of you who have accompanied me on this journey. I hope you will stay in touch as you have done even though you are not personally receiving these blogs. Your friendship, caring, and love have been inspirational and have allowed me to continue to live and not merely survive. As a person who has made his career using words, I cannot find the words to thank you for your compassion. So...I will just say, "THANK YOU." Let me explain why I think it is time to take a break. I continue to hear Sue's voice telling me that I have said much of what I have written already and would say I am repeating myself. So, due to the loving care of a number of you over the past two days, I realize that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. There is a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to weep and a time to laugh. (Ecclesiastes Chapter 3) (See below) The time has come to be joyful and to laugh again. I have written about the support I have experienced as I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Recently, one of you helped me see that I should walk on a path in the midst of the sacredness of life. I was reminded about times that Sue and I would walk through gardens and beautiful natural sites. We would hold hands and would share precious loving moments together. The joy I felt as I recalled those wonderful moments was something I have not experienced during the past nine months. I remembered the love we shared and the joy we felt just by being with each other. I told you about the symbolism of the havdalah candle we use to conclude the Sabbath. It is a braided candle reminding us that good and bad are woven together and yet the light of the candle is meant to encourage us to look at the brightness and the good. We shared the scent of the spices from the spice box which are the additional soul that we have when we carry the Sabbath into the coming week. I will always carry Sue's soul with me and G-d knows, her soul was almost always filled with joy.(especially when I told her jokes:-)) You asked if we could offer a toast to Sue which we did in very special glasses filled with sparkling juice. It was not by accident that you chose sparkling juice because Sue's sparkle will live forever. for me and for so many who are reading this and those whose lives were touched by hers. I was reminded of so many times she would talk about how the diamond in her engagement ring continued to sparkle. Finally, we identified a chair as the chair for Elijah the prophet who hopefully will inspire us to live in a more peaceful world which is part of the havdalah service which means separation (from the Sabbath to the rest of the week and from the sacred to the regular routine). I hope that he will help me find the peace which I long for so that I can appreciate the love and the wonderful memories. To paraphrase Bob Hope (google him!), I am so incredibly blessed by and thankful for the memories. When we concluded this ritual I privately recited a prayer of thanksgiving for precious and holy moments and for which you responded amen. So many of you have responded amen in your own ways over the past nine months as you have read these blogs which has been a way of demonstrating your faith in me and in what Sue has meant, means, and will always mean to me. When we say amen to a prayer we express our faith in what has just been said. So...as I enter the last three months of the traditional Jewish year of mourning, I am trying to move forward and will conclude this blog with the following. I am hearing the words to the song, "Olive Tree" from the broadway show "Kismet." Please put this link into your browser or click on it if you can. image.png YouTube · broadwaydream15 26.9K+ views · 12 years ago image.jpeg 2:53 (also,see the lyrics below) As we journeyed through life, we did walk together from beneath our olive tree and were blessed by each other's presence. I truly feel that I can step from behind the olive tree and that there can be a wondrous change in me. It has only (???) taken me nine months to internalize and channel Sue's joy which she experienced and shared so naturally. Thanks to all of you for your support and caring. I will continue to blos on the blogger site listed at the conclusion of the email and for those who are reading this on my blogger site, you know where to find me. I know the grief process is not linear and that there will be tears, fears, bumps, and bruises along the way. Our Patriarch Jacob continues to be called Jacob and Israel throughout his life as he goes back and forth to the name he was called at birth to the name he was given after he wrestled the angel or whoever he wrestled. I hope we all will fill the days ahead with love and I hope we will all be kind and compassionate. What beautiful gifts Sue gave all of us who knew her and have gotten to know her through these blogs. I will continue to inform you about special tributes and programs that will honor Sue's life and those things that were so important to her. Sue's Loving Husband and Life Partner, Bruce Ecclesiastes (Koheleth), 3:1-8 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 3:6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. The Olive Tree Lyrics Play "The Olive Tree" on Amazon Music Unlimited (ad) A fool sat beneath an olive tree And a wondrous thought had he, So he rose and he told it to the sky, And where was I? Behind the tree, I overheard his reverie. "Why be content with an olive when you could have the tree ? Why be content to be nothing, when there's nothing you couldn't be ? Why be content with one olive tree when you could have the whole olive grove ? Why be content with a grove when you could have the world ?" The fool stood beneath the olive tree "What a wondrous thought" said he "But alas, it is very, very deep" And so he yawned and went to sleep, Because you see, he was a fool! Why be content with an olive when you could have the tree? That which has lulled you to sleep, fool, has awakened me. Why should I sigh that my lot is my lot, that I can't make it anything more, When that is a lie, an excuse for a fool to snore. I walked from behind the olive tree With a wondrous change in me, For I walked with my eye upon a Star. If you have heard and do not heed There is a word for what you are, And oh my friend, the word is Fool! -- Please check out my blog at the following link! https://rabbibruceaft.blogspot.com Attachments area Preview YouTube video The Olive Tree (Kismet) - Howard KeelPreview YouTube video The Olive Tree (Kismet) - Howard Keel

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