DDT (12)
Member
Posts: 4120
Sometimes ya just gotta go...
Winter Springs, FL - Occasionally...
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« on: August 06, 2017, 08:11:50 PM » |
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Just For The Halibut…
That first night at the lodge, we’d gone down to Kingfisher’s to listen to Honky-Tonk Man. While at the table, Arden had invited the folks there, including yours truly, over to her place Thursday evening for halibut…
She was going to deep fry some-up in her special beer batter, and serve it with a couple of sides… Everyone seemed pleased at the invitation and especially the meal! She enjoys a reputation for being a sensational cook! I didn’t even have to consult my social calendar… I would be there!
What an amazing evening that turned out to be, following an equally great day riding down to Homer. Sally was there, of course. Sally works for Arden, but they are friends more than anything.
Sally is 65 years old, and terminally ill with cancer. She has undergone numerous surgeries including removal of her large intestines, and most of her small intestines. She must constantly wear ‘a bag’, and eating is an adventure for her unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. Her diet, too, must be carefully watched.
She is so vibrant, energetic, and cheerful, though! She talks constantly, but she also has plenty to say… She has been a very astute observer of people throughout her life, and she has many most interesting observations to offer. Her attitude is priceless, though, and I’m astonished at her chipper mood and indominable spirit.
She was given six months to live four months ago by her doctor in Tucson, AZ… but, she seems to be having some sort of recovery up here in the woods! This place does seem to be a place for spiritual rehabilitation… and perhaps physical rehab, as well. She, like most others, seems to have wound up here more by accident than anything else…
She and her late husband had owned an insurance agency in Tucson until he passed, then she had sold the business. She didn’t need to work, at least not to support herself, but she definitely needed to have work… some folks are that way.
She had worked on a cruise ship in search of adventure on the Marine Highway between Alaska and Washington until she tired of that. She would up here, and she began to be a cleaning lady for Arden because Arden needed one, and because Sally needed to keep busy…
Her family back in Tucson, especially her daughter, didn’t want her to come up here to a relatively isolated, remote, tiny place in the woods, but she came anyway. She is already making plans for her post-recovery phase of life here in Cooper Landing, just in case. She is realistic about the long-term, however, and she fully recognizes things might well go the other way.
In the meantime, she has found a magical place, returned to a mental place where she feels good about herself and her prospects, and physically she feels better than she has in a year or more. No one can know what the future holds, and neither does she. However, she maintains an incredibly positive outlook, a chipper attitude, and a hopeful look towards that uncertain future… I do wish her well.
Arden’s father, Bill, is another interesting character right out of central casting. Eighty years old now, but very active and mentally sharp as a tack. He spends summers up here helping Arden out with errands and chores and whatever else strikes his fancy. He had been born on a ranch in British Columbia that his grandfather had begun. As a young adult, he had become a professional hunter and guide.
Bill has lead expeditions throughout North and South America, Africa, and even to hunt snow leopards in Siberia. He could easily have been the person the character was based upon that Clark Gable portrayed in the movie ‘Atari’… Over the course of my stay, I’ve had several opportunities to listen to this guy, and each time I am more mesmerized than the time before.
As the evening progressed and I was opening my second brewski, I heard someone ascending the stairs to Arden’s home… The cadence and rhythm of the steps being taken, however, were not what one usually expects to hear. Soon a man came through the doorway and into view… He had a mechanical left arm and was missing his left leg. He was on crutches. He also had a big smile on his face, and he was quite polite and congenial…
Doug and I had a couple of opportunities to chat one on one, and I got a glimpse at a man who has climbed many mountains, most much higher than I could even contemplate. He's endured unimaginable pain and suffering for years on end, dealt with the agony of being taken advantage of by friends and family… and so much more, but I won’t try to capture it all here.
Doug is 63 years old, and he has been in his present condition since the age of 14, when he suffered a terrible, life-altering injury while he and friends were playing in an abandoned mine shaft. He’s overcome a bad marriage, countless surgeries, most of which were experimental, lost his left arm, left leg, and a huge chunk out of his lower right abdomen. He has overcome helplessness, hopelessness, addiction, depression, and anguish few have ever known. He has also triumphed!
He had always loved baseball, but when that avenue was closed to him, he found another… snow skiing. He became quite good at it, too, and he even won two gold medals at the 1980 Special Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.
He later helped to start a training facility in Colorado for special needs individuals, and he devoted much of his life to that. He, like Sally, has a million dollar attitude of hopefulness and expectation of positive things for the future. He admitted to being really 'down' at present, but the man I met will rise to the occasion and succeed once again. His is an inspirational story, and one I’m mighty glad to have heard…
Other characters were present at the dinner, too… The thread that links them all together, I observed, is an unshakable confidence in themselves, a courageous and optimistic view of life and their place in it, and an insatiable appetite to venture forth and explore the unknown... they each drink deeply from the cup of life. Suffice it to say, I’ve landed in a special place with very special people… and the ‘magic’ is palpable!
DDT
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