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Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Dummy on Destiny (plus some poetic waxzing)

HALLELUJAH! Jami is finally back from protesting proposition 8 and I no longer have to carry the burden of superfluous miscellany.

Today I think I'll go for substance. (YaY JaMi!) (And j/k about the proposition 8 thing!)

(And mahalo Barbaloot for reminding me to tell you how I really feel about destiny. I almost forgot.)

DESTINY:

Destiny is like a rose--by any other name it would smell the same. Destiny = providence/the grand scheme/the upstairs plan/the man/the man with the plan/the universe/the secret/the secret universe/and finally . . . the invisible red thread.

Destiny is the invisible red thread. The ancient Chinese understood that.

I poked fun at the thread yesterday, but if I am being really honest, I like the idea. I'm romantic like that. I would even say I'm a super hopeless romantic. And what's more super hopeless than being bound forever to your loved ones by an invisible string of red thread? Or blue thread for that matter.

But that's what's so cool about hope and destiny and love. It offers reason to the unreasonable. It offers explanation to the unexplainable. It offers comfort to the uncomfortable.

The invisible red thread is destiny, but it's also love. The purpose of destiny is learning and the purpose of love is learning.

In fact the purpose of life is learning. If life is our classroom, then God is our principal and destiny is our registrar and love is our major. All the courses required to graduate would be forgiveness 101, patience 315, kindness 202, long suffering 400 . . . you get the extended metaphor.

The longer I live the more aware I become of how exquisitely complex love is. How delicate and fleeting--yet sturdy and everlasting. How plump and spoiled--yet famished and modest.

The after shocks of love are so deep and wide and far reaching not even a poet can measure them.

Isn't it remarkable that invisible red thread can hold together what circumstances can't?

Life is a bully. Life separates. But a delicate thread is tough enough to bind souls together forever.

It's a soothing thought when you're suffering.

I recently heard a poetic love story about Thomas Jefferson, who suffered intensely from losing his parents, his best friend, half of his children and his beloved wife by the time he was 40 years old.

In May of 1782, Patti Jefferson was dangerously ill. She was dying. Jefferson nursed her tenderly for 4 months while she lingered. In September they sat together on her death bed and wrote out a quote on a piece of 4X4 paper from one of their favorite novels, Tristan Shandy.

The quote begins in Patti's handwriting:

Time wastes too fast. Every letter I trace tells me with what rapidity life follows my pen. The days and hours are flying over our heads like clouds on a windy day. Never to return more, everything presses on.

Halfway through the quote, Jefferson picked up the pen and finished the quote:

And every time I kiss thy hand to bid adieu, every absence which follows it are preludes to the eternal seperation which we are shortly to make.

Jefferson kept this quote in a secret compartment of the drawer beside his bed along with a lock of her hair. The paper was folded and refolded hundreds of times.

I can't help but hope he knew about the invisible red thread.

Small comfort, I know. But even small comforts are welcome blessings when you're in pain.

20 comments:

OldBoatGuy said...

That thread goes into heaven also.

mizingst........missing her.

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Amen to that OGG! Sending virtual hugs!

OldBoatGuy said...

Is that OBG or OGG (oldgoatguy)> Hee Hee

Thanks for the hugs.

mendf.....mended already.

The Crash Test Dummy said...

That was OGG For Old Grieving Guy/Old Great Guy.

:)

Alyson | New England Living said...

I have something in my eye. Leave me alone. NO, I AM NOT CRYING. Something is stuck in my contact. Ok, ok, I'm lying. I really am crying, and I wasn't expecting that when I visited your blog! You are now a friend who induces many emotions.

I think I'm failing at long suffering 101. Can I get a tutor?

Emily Anne Leyland said...

Wow...so beautiful!!!

Kristina P. said...

Who knew TJ was such a romantic?!?!?!

Heidi said...

Ahhhhh, so sweet! I'm with Alyson in that I am NOT crying. I have read My Thomas but I don't remember that part. In which book can I find this precious story? (And if you say My Thomas, I guess I will have to just go out and finally have nervous breakdown)

werses: weird verses

*MARY* said...

I wonder if this story will be in the next National Treasure movie.

Jami said...

Beautiful.

Who knew Tristran had it in him? [That book. I just didn't get it. At all. Though I tried. Again. And again. Then I got married and many things became much more clear. It's only funny if you get the jokes.]

I suppose I should go post something now that you've sent people to me.

Nutty Hamster Chick said...

I am so glad that you said the thread could be blue, that is so much better than red, especially this week. he he.

I am still a fan of the quote "I don't mind being schooled in the hard knocks of life, it is these refresher courses I could do without."

And the final exams, I am a bit concerned about those, but I hear it will be open book, so maybe it won't be as bad as I am thinking it will be.

Great post, loved it.

Mariko said...

Their favorite book was Tristram SHANDY?! WHAT?!
He just went up three notches on my cool scale.
I'm a little weirded out that he found it so incredibly romantic.

I have a hard time with destiny. Because while it may give reason to the universe, it also makes one feel out of its control.

Why is Forgiveness only a 101?

And not only did I get in trouble for the whole cheetos thing (and he did not find it funny that we were all laughing about it) he was actually SERIOUS about being mad about it. I had to apologize and EVERYTHING! I still totally find it funny. That he would seemingly hide the cheetos, but not actually trying to be hiding the cheetos. That's the best part about it. I tried to explain to him that everyone knows I was just looking for a reason to say I wasn't a bad parent for giving my daughter cheetos for breakfast!
When did he turn into such an old fut?

Barbaloot said...

Wow-that quote by Thomas Jefferson and his wife is incredibly romantic/sad/touching. Glad I reminded you to write about destiny:) I definitely appreciated your thoughts on it.

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Oh NO, Mariko! He became an old fut when he made the front page of the CTD Diaries and I called him mean and spiteful, huh? Husbands can be so sensative like that. He must read your blog! I apologize. And give my apologies to him too.

I had to apologize to my husband too last week when I said there must be something wrong with him. I am terribly insensative.

ftr, I didn't really think he was mean or spiteful or that he was hiding the cheetos from YOU. I thought he was either hiding them from your daughter or they got inadvertantly stashed behind the cereal. That happens to me all the time because we eat cereal more than Cheetos.

I must reform my insensatives.

Melanie Jacobson said...

This reminds me of a story about Abraham Lincoln. After his death, the personal effects he was carrying were placed in a box and sealed, then eventually donated to the Library of Congress where they moldered for a while. In the '70's, the finally opened the box and the two things that fascinated me most were that in his wallet, Lincoln carried a Confederate five dollar bill with Jefferson Davis's face on it and it amused me to think of him sitting on it on a regular basis, and he also had an article that praised his leadership because he'd been so widely reviled for so long that kind words in the press were unusual and he referred to that clipping often. Maybe to keep him on track, I guess, help him fix his resolve.

Anyway...I enjoyed your musings today.

Mariko said...

UGh. you were totally right about getting in trouble again. I am in trouble, AGAIN. Totally not fair. If I can't make fun of people, what am I going to write about?
He said I didn't even get why he was mad.
And he has never been so right!

J. Baxter said...

Lovely post Crash - you really did wax poetic, and a fine job of it you did too:)

And I'm sure the producers of National Treasure are now considering this story, because I have no doubt they read your blog.

LBBlum said...

too funny CRASH- we totally took over Funny Farms blog roll today!
HOw rude? She probably is thinking- can't you girls.. just step outside your houses for a second to visit- instead of crashing other people's blogs.. and teasing each other?? {get a life!}

I don't want a life if it means I have to leave my chair... keep the blogs rollin!

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

K-I've just read your last 4 posts...it's midnight or actually 1 in the morning...and all I get from any of it is:

Some cousin wants to shout "YOUR TOO SKINNY" to your daughter for a month to fatten her up while eating his own poi...that you don't know how to make...and skinny people are overrated if they are polite...

Red thread has to do with destiny which I need to remind you to explain...red thread connects our loved ones to us and may get tangles...but only red elastic is stretchy and might get cut?

Wow...I think I get it...yet, I'm still confused!

I'll comment when I'm less delirious! :) Miss everyone over here in the comment section!

Word verifier: CIPECON--short for Crash IS Polluting the Economy...hmmm...

Something you need to tell us? Antartican language doesn't lie!

Funny Farmer said...

Swirl - fwiw I was honored and happy to have your party crash my blog yesterday. It was all fun and games until Crash got spiteful. Hopefully she's recovered her sense of humor today. :hugs: