Lessons from the Pirate

I asked the Pirate if I could post his email to me and he said "Sure." He wrote it while we were still up on the homestead last weekend. I thought it was awesome, so thought I would share it with you so you could see what type of guy he is...


"Well, it is saturday evening, and all are safe and in their respective beds. Glad that Luke and Arron got to stay here with us. Seem like very nice young men. It has been a great weekend for me to just be retrospective and enjoy as much of this as I can. It warms my heart to watch everything unfold here on the hill.

Our tree we have together, will be here next year as well, and it may or may not have its leaves, in that season, but this year they stayed to signify, we made it again kiddo. [The Pirate showed me two trees outside his house -- one with leaves, and one without. He said the one without leaves represented my life last year (gone), and the one with leaves is me living on. When he spoke that to me, the reality of it went deep inside and I began to weep, as I realized I'm still here, living on]. Next year we will have another significant sign that will again stand in our memory. We made it , and we will keep making it year after year and you will see , when we are our parents age, we will always look back to those days, and remember , and you will say" how did you really know Jeff?" Then I will tell you a story. It will be much the same as many I have told you, and you too will know, that my life has been spent knowing of many things. Some good, some not so good, but knowing just the same. I have come to the conclusion though, that it is not good to know or be aware of too many things, only the things that we are supposed to know, and each is given the knowledge based on what we can realistically handle. Maybe that is how the original plan was supposed to work. Each with an individual knowledge to be brought together as one , each with their own talent to make it work as a coalition. Just a thought.

I love to listen to the family play, all together. What a coalition that would make , if we all worked together , to achieve one thing. Try to imagine if one person from that group possessed all of the knowledge of all of the rest together. I guess that one soul could do it all then, but think of the overload it would create within one. What a lonely place in this world it might be if that person needed no one. I definitely know we need each and everyone. The other thing I know is that our family is blessed and will be protected throughout all of the life blessings and mishaps or unforseen occurrances that might come upon us. Doesn't mean there will be no sorrow or tradgedies, and our families will grow old and depart, but what it does mean is we will all go through it strong and together, and with blessings until that day when the return will bring us all together once again. Just knowing that is a blessing by itself. A long time ago our beginning began here, and to here we will always return. Quite an insight huh?

I think I can hear Doug snoring out in the motor home, so maybe I had better quit writing for tonight and say," blessed I am this weekend". Love you Guys, and hope you loved being here as much as I loved having everyone. Coldstream Pirate always."

Thanks, Pirate, I heard Doug snoring, too -- Thanks for all the encouragement... !Deb