I was awoken by the pitter patter of feet above my head earlier. Too early for Santa's reindeer, it's
probably "that damn cat" I thought as consciousness slowly poured into what was the realm of
sleep. Getting up to hit the head, I opened the slider and called out. Sure enough, 3:21am , here he
comes bounding up to the screen to be let in. Not even a thank you, Sir. Probably a "what took you
so fucking long, human".
He went off to eat and I slumped back to bed. As I got comfortable again and the moonlight
shone through the skylights, my brain revs his engine, not so fast fatso, we got thoughts to think.
"Work, life, mom, bills, what day is it?"
Wash rinse repeat.
Even, the sheep wouldn't come out, they are getting tired of being counted.
I thought about The White Cross and this video that I posted the other day.
As individuals the interpretation is to each your own:
The White Cross
The White Cross.
I was one of the last ones to leave the office yesterday. It's been busy and I'm juggling a few
projects that are finishing up, hopefully, this month, as others are starting.
As I walked to the truck I can see the traffic on Route 93 North is already slow and bogged
four lanes wide. Just like every Monday to Friday. Same way on the commute in. I got in the truck,
punched in home on the Waze app to let the surveillance state know where I was going, and saw
an hour ride and all red on various sections of the traveled roads.
It's nice weather here this week so I decided to take the "backroads".
Usually it's a longer ride but you can meander through different towns to change things
up.
Working my way North, North East, had me cutting through North Andover to get to Route 125.
I was listening to music, had the windows open, enjoying the sun and was thinking about the
TO-DO list for home and the work for what is now today.
Ending up on Massachusetts Ave heading North West, I was a line of traffic as I approached the lights
to take a right on Chickering Ave. ( Routes 133 and 125).
On the surveillance app, I mean Waze, it showed a crash on the far side of Chickering so traffic
was backed up.
Slowly inching toward the lights, that seemed to change after 2 cars went through, I was aimlessly
staring out the window letting the slowly setting western sun warm my face.
I noticed The White Cross.
On the opposite side of the road there is a granite curb and sidewalk then trees and brush.
Here is a street view image that is from 2020. The cross and other remembrance items are not
there in this photo, so I added one for reference.
Presently, It is more over grown and was harder to see given the shadows.
My truck was positioned similarly to the work truck shown. The White Cross was was set back
further from the sidewalk and was not immediately noticeable. I doubt you would know it was there
if you drove by at anything over a crawl. How many thousands of people pass by this spot weekly?
The White Cross appeared to be a bit weathered and not maintained, at least not recently.
Stuck in traffic, my thoughts shifted, and I wondered about the "accident".
I hit google and using speak to text communicated with my Eff-bee-eye handler at google.
"fatality massachusetts ave north andover". I tried to disguise my voice but they already
knew it was me from my location on my tracking device.
The White Cross
As the traffic slowly moved the searches came up.
Sunday, May 7th, 2023 1:30pm . The weather that day . A nice 70° sunny spring day.
For sometime, as I road home with the radio on and the windows opened, I wondered about
the life of Angela Desmond and the thoughts expressed in the short video above.
What were her dreams and ambitions?
What were her highs and lows?
What were her triumphs and tragedies?
What were her worries or concerns or was she carefree?
Obviously non of those can be answered by anyone other than those close to her.
The White Cross, placed on the side of the road, served it's purpose. I thought about
her and how tragically her life ended.
I wonder how long the cross will remain there.
Be safe, try not to sweat the small stuff, enjoy the day.
It can all go away in an instant.
The truth comes at you hard sometimes.
ReplyDeleteVery good observations; more of that will benefit us all as we get older.
hwy 98 in southern Miss is lined with them, mile after mile, and they are kept up as a warning and a remembrance for those lost. people here are funny about those kinda things. the hwy is known as " bloody 98 " for a good reason.
Deletewhen the hwy was widened from 2 lane to a 4 lane the markers were moved by the state and not removed. they could have bulldozed them over but they didn't, the state just relocated them to the side. i love the south.
I think I am better off for having the occasion to stumble upon this poast today. We all daydream and reflect during the hours spent in traffic (if we are not furiously checking messages, texts or the latest fashion trend on the internets). But how often during these times of quiet reflection do we remember what it was that was going through our heads?
ReplyDeleteAmen, brother
ReplyDelete-lg
I hear a woman trying to justify "live for the moment" mentality.
ReplyDeleteTo follow up on my last comment "live for the moment"
ReplyDeleteCivilization is built up by an unbroken chain of billions of people of whom no one ever remembers but nonetheless contributed to the tapestry of life we currently inhabit. Society prospers when men plant trees in whose shade they will never enjoy. The fact I will not be remembered 100 years from now? So what, for the vast majority of people that is the case and has been throughout time. That this twat in the video focuses on "not being remembered" is just typical, narcissistic female thought.
Uhhh... She's warning AGAINST narcissism...
DeleteThat being said, it's easy to say "Live for the moment," but the reality is, survival takes up pretty much all our time. Yeah, when we're gone we'll soon be forgotten, but that's not what it's all about. I'm not concerned about being remembered after I'm dead. I'm concerned about getting through today! I've got to go to work, or I won't have a place to live or food to eat. I've got to work on the place I live in or else it'll fall apart. I've got to be concerned about the future of my country because that's where my kids and their kids will be living. ...It's like that... "Not worrying about 95% of what we worry about" is NOT a realistic philosophy...
Nope; she clearly states "we would FEEL more free to enjoy ourselves" and then follows it up with "If it's not going to matter in five years don't worry about it" It is a clearly narcissistic message. This woman is concerned no one will remember her, she actually states it. It's the default for humanity, get over yourself.
DeleteI'm building for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren's future which God willing will extend considerably further out than 5 years.
I Do not like when crosses are left at sites like that. They are no longer there and hopefully their loved ones are in heaven. It also creates a distraction potentially creating another unnecessary death. I do say a little prayer though.
ReplyDeleteLife is short make sure you are prepared.
That was me
Deleteps Waze has saved me a lot of money. Hated it when I heard gooble bought it. Use it all the time except when I leave the phone home or in the faraday bag
ReplyDeleteAs well
DeleteDuring a conversation with my Dad when he was in his early 90's, he related that his grandfather had
ReplyDeleteactually lived at Dad's family residence. At the time, I didn't know that he knew his grandfather at all as no reference had been made to him in all my years growing up. Dad was the first generation son of immigrants who arrived here in the late 1800's via Ellis Island, another fact I never knew until I was in my 60's. Dad's family history was never spoken about when I was growing up other than occasional references to some of his cousins who lived in town under different surnames.
To this day, I don't know my great grandfather's or great grandmother's names. I only learned the name of the tiny country on the Adriatic Coast where my ancestors emigrated from about 15 years ago because one of my son's asked me about it and I had to ask my Dad to give him an answer.
For some reason family ancestry was a forbidden topic in our household when I was a kid.
Nemo
While I agree that we (ourselves) won't be remembered, the results of our actions, or inactions, may carry on for centuries.
ReplyDeleteI think about what that young lady in the video was saying more frequently as I am getting older. Legacy is more important for some than others. Sometimes, I honestly wish I wasn't so sentimental about "things" from my past, but I am. The things that are very dear and important to me may or may not have the same magnetism for my offspring in the future. No matter how hard I try to instill my priorities, outside forces will surely mold their likes, dislikes, viewpoints, etc. in the future and theirs will ultimately be "different" from my perspective even though there might be similarities. That does not mean that I have or do not try hard to So, after my mind has wandered I come back to the fact of the matter and reality which is, I am here now. I try to "train up my children in the way they should go". So, I smile, live, laugh, love, teach and protect to the best of my ability the things that matter most. Life is short and we do not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky in that most of my Maternal ancestors are all buried in the same place going back several Generations so my ancestors aren't quite forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much what Solomon wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
ReplyDeleteA friend was killed a few years ago in Harrisburg, PA while walking his dog. A car jumped the sidewalk and killed him. The dog too. Sad...
ReplyDeleteThe lady has a lovely Aussie accent. Could be wrong,but her msg is crystal.
ReplyDeleteThis did make me reflect on my life as I slowly get close to 70 years on this crazy world. My children and grandchildren will have memories of me as I do of my parents and grandparents as well as all the aunts and cousins that we had! It was a good and loving family! I feel very fortunate to remember all that have gone before me, my children and hopefully my grandkids will hopefully do the same. I'm good with it!
ReplyDeleteShe is right. Lately, I have come to realize that we all should think on our next life. The one that will last forever. Be Jesus oriented. He represents infinite gain. Think about Paschal's wager.
ReplyDeleteI did not put any skylights over my bedroom because I take a nap sometimes
ReplyDeleteThere was an old Blood, Sweat and Tears song that talked about when you get old, music plays, and peace is made for someone else. And so, I think about L-T Brewer sometimes. I don't recall his first name, and anyway, I never knew him.
ReplyDeleteAfter Viet Nam, I spent 13 months at Fort Wainwright, Alaska before getting out and they probably thought good riddance. For sure that's what I thought about them. One of the training areas at Wainwright had once been some kind of company or battalion area. The roads were still more or less passable and you could see the concrete piers of buildings that were long gone.
There was in that abandoned area a bronze plaque atop a concrete post and the plaque read LT (first name) Brewer, KIA Attu with a date that I don't remember but must have been in May 1943 because that was when the army took the island back from the Japanese.
The plaque did not say what the young L-T did to be so memorialized, but I thought being abandoned like that was a pissy way to be forgotten. Looking at Google Earth now, that area has been filled in with buildings again. I hope the young L-T's memorial got moved someplace where it could be seen regularly and not left out among the weeds and copious piles of moose shit. He deserved better.
Hi Irish...,
ReplyDeleteWhite cross you say,,, on the side of the road....
At the DZ (Drop Zone) there are places ... way....off the road side... just a "Crater".... some saw the event .. then there's the aftermath.... the coroner is called, there is a brief "Investigation of the circumstances," then slowly is the "Crater Lurk" .. Later at the "BAR" the story is told..... sometimes there re "artifacts" shown.. something that from the departed that did not get policed up by the coroner.... Really!!!!
The stories are endless...... as every Crater tells one..... Like the "White Cross" the "Crater" will be there for a while till it gets disced over by a tractor or just the weather melts it back to like the regular foliage...
Then all that's left are the memories and the stories at "Beer call at the BAR!!!"
Blue Skyz,
Black Death!!,
skybill
Several of my sisters are big into the family history thing. Because of this, they asked me to write my version of family life and events over the last 75 years. I asked them "Why? It won't make any difference since no one will know who any of us are in two generations." Still, I'm making the attempt to write some anecdotes for their enjoyment and peace of mind. So I tend to agree with the videographer, and disagree simultaneously.
ReplyDelete