Seems this is one of those weeks for loss. Two days ago I lost a friend. Until I got the news I had forgotten how we met, his wife told me I was his best friend and she knew why and she reminded me of our first meeting. She said he told everyone my interference in his life changed him forever.
I was still a young and impressionable woman, just off my first bout of very ill health and I was seeing the world through grateful eyes that I was alive. I walked a lot through the park downtown. I saw a guy casting towards the shore and as I walked by I said to him, "Casting near the shore here will only catch a bird, please be careful." He cursed me as I walked away. So I yelled out, "If you catch a bird and you play with it I'm going to punch you in the face." See, I have this issue of people hurting animals for play.
I was walking in the park downtown a few days later when I came across a duck struggling to get away from a fishing line he had swallowed.. I looked up and that pesky guy from a few days before was yanking on the line. Man did I get pissed off. I decided to intervene, something I do at times when things are wrong. Even back then this was a key action in my life. I grabbed the line and pulled the duck into my arms so I could remove the hook. This took some time for the poor duck was more than fifteen feet in the air trying to escape. Once I got him in my arms. I used a pair of fingernail clippers to cut the line. I got the hook out and checked for serious damage and then let the duck go.
Once I did let go of the duck I focused on the guy. As I approached him from behind an officer approached him from the side and began to give him a ticket. As I walked up and offered my ID as a witness I said to the cop, "it is a good thing you showed up I was intending on punching this guy." I don't remember the cops name but he said, "go right ahead, what he did deserves more than a ticket". So I did. The guy took it rather well even though his eye began to swell right away. He even said, "Well, you warned me the other day." Then I walked away rather glad I had helped that duck.
Back then instant justice was not considered wrong.
A few weeks later I ran into him at a church I decided to go to. It took a bit of time and we talked about what he did and about my punching him in front of a cop as if I could care less if I got in trouble after what he did. We became fast friends, he told everyone I was the only women to ever get the upper hand with him--literally.
Eventually I introduced him to the woman he married, she was a fortunate woman. They had a stellar marriage. When they moved to New York I really missed them both. He passed on from invasive cancer. I'm sure going to miss his emails and comments.
Please my friends, even if you have a "there she goes again saying stuff and you feel offended," remember, I do love you all even if some of the crap YOU pull annoys me too.
God made me who I am, I have embraced myself with every ounce of my identity, the good, the bad and the great parts (like the book I wrote for God.). If I can put up with me then you can too. I am who I am and nothing you can say will make me feel less that perfect--in God's eyes.
I don't care if you are of a different lifestyle, I don't care if our politics are different. I don't care if you are a different color than I, nor do I care if you are multicolored. You can have a penchant for things that I totally disagree with but frankly if I have invited you into my life then it is because I have found something very special in you that makes me want to have you as at the very least a social media friend. If you needed me I would be there if it were within my ability to do so.
Stop the negativity and just love each other, life is just too short.
John 15:22 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
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Did you know, you can get the free app from amazon to download Light Within Cobblestones digital version to either your phone or your computer?
There is also a recent change to the cost of the digital version, it is now just 5.99!
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Cecile is the author of Light Within Cobblestones, a non-fiction Christian themed book.
Cecile is also the co-author of Dinner With Cecile And William, a cookbook, she has another set of cookbooks on the way, called 365 A Sandwich A Day Keeps The Hunger Away Vol 1 and 2
Go To Dinner With Cecile And William
Cecile is also a Fine Artist, see her artworks at cecileartistauthor.com as well as flootie.com
A recent article on Cecile and her art is in WTF Fashion Magazine on page 22, although she recommends you check out the whole magazine. It is unique and artsy.