After reading the different posts from Bill's "Saturation Point," I reflected back on my own life and thought about how many brushes with death I have experienced. I have had a couple close calls, but one in particular has stayed with me. Have you ever been told you have cancer and your chances aren't that great? With two children under the ages of 21 months, a husband who didn't know if he was going to have a job from one day to the next, and your so sick that you didn't know how you were going to get through the day is a pretty hard thing to swallow. But I had determination and the will power to fight for my chance to see my children grow up and be productive adults. That was 25 years ago, and I don't know why I am telling you people this because I never ever talk about it. But I can say from experience that if you can survive being told your going to die soon and you fight for the chance to live, it will happen. So when I store up those bags of beans and rice I think about how happy I am to just be here to do it, and to see how it will all play out in the end.

-- Bardou (Bardou@baloney.com), November 02, 1998

Answers

Thanks for sharing that, Bardou. I've printed a copy and put it on the stack for Mrs. Rimmer. She will appreciate knowing there are people like yourself out there facing this issue with a 'fighting' attitude. She, like the rest of us here, gets depressed from time to time and need to be reminded that it's never truly hopeless unless you give up. Thanks again.

-Arnie

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), November 02, 1998.

Bardou,

Your question and your comment is for many, but from where I sit it is meant especially for me.

"Are you a survivor" jolted me to think hard about where I am right now in my feelings and my actions. There is so much that I need to do to prepare our family for the possiblities of what might happen in 14 months. Yet, it seems, I find myself in a "catatonic" state.

I am soon to be 64, and have a wonderful wife, and we just celebrated the birth of a beautiful, healthy baby girl 5 weeks ago. We also have a healthy, vibrant 4-1/2 year old son. But it is a miracle that I am alive and doing what I am doing now.

Let digress a bit. My first marriage ended in divorce. I remained single for nearly 10 years. I was married again, but my second marriage ended in a tragic auto accident. We were married only 8 months. She died instantly, and I never got to her funeral. I was in critical condition in the hospital. Took a long time to heal physically and emotionally from this.

I thought I would head into my sunset years alone, and ten more years past and then this younger gal got a hold of my heart, and now we have two lovely children.

We first heard of Y2K in June of this year and we began almost immediately to make plans to survive. But something not in my plans happened. The company I have worked with for 14 years laid me off. This affected me more than I expected. I am trying to shake the feelings and admit that I am having a hard time with it. And it is affecting my planning as well as my actions.

Your question, Bardou, and your comment, has helped immensely. Am I a survivor? Yes, I am. And what I do now will make a difference in the lives of the two young children entrusted to our care. Thank you, Bardou, for shaking me back to reality.

-- JoB (jbabinsky@theriver.com), November 02, 1998.

Thanks for sharing the good and the bad. Your will to survive counts more than any other factor. Don't let anything distract you. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. If I might, without any particular religious purpose, I will quote the words of William Wordsworth.

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home:

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), November 02, 1998.