by Marty Coleman | Nov 1, 2009 | Billy Squires |
I ran a long run yesterday. It was a 15k (9.3 miles). It was the first I had run at that length. I did well, better than I expected. My body felt better than expected. Why? Because of the training. I have trained for 12 weeks with a great group that kept me going. We did hills, we did long runs on cold mornings, we did fast runs. We walked, we rested, we pushed, we sprinted.
I have a friend who is going through a really hard time. Her house is about to be foreclosed upon. Her ex owes a LOT of money in past child support and it won’t be coming soon. Her job, while secure right now, is not guaranteed secure. She is beaten down, stressed, at the end of her rope.
BUT, she is like a tiger. She may want to quit, want to not be the responsible one, not be the ‘good’ one. But, like the tiger, she will get up after chasing an antelope and not getting it, and she will try again. She has done it before. She will rest, she will sit in the sun for a few minutes, then get up and continue the fight for survival, running that long run. Why? Because of her training. She has raised kids, she has fought to make her marriage a success, she has worked hard to be employed and make a living. She has kept a home and kept her friends and family.
That won’t change now. She will do better than she expects. Because she has it in her to run the long run. Because she is a tiger.
And the same goes for you.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.” – Billy Squires, 1950-not dead yet, American rock musician
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 29, 2009 | Death - 2001-2011, Srully Blotnick |
We woke up this morning to a phone call telling us one of my wife’s employees had been killed in a car wreck. She has to go announce it to her division, make plans for how to respond as a company and as an individual to other individuals.
Sunday we were out furniture shopping when we met a saleswoman. We got into a conversation and learned her daughter had died in a car wreck just short of a year ago. She was just about to turn 15.
One of my recent friends on facebook (I went to high school with her sister and we connected via those FB connections) just recently came upon the 8th anniversary of her son’s death in a car wreck. Less than a month before she had to comfort an old friend whose son had just died in a car wreck.
What do they all have in common? We remain. The loved ones remain. The loved ones grieve. The loved ones suffer terrible loss. Where do we go with it? How do we carry that suitcase of grief? That heavy suitcase with no rollers, no convenient handles, a broken zipper so stuff keeps falling out on the street. That suitcase of grief that pops open at the most inconvenient times.
What do we do with that?
- We get stronger and get some good duct tape and keep carrying it.
- We empty it, put away the contents and put the suitcase back in the closet.
- We tear the suitcase apart and make a sculpture out of it that we place in our backyard and the birds come and sit on it in the sun.
- We give it all away to charity.
- We empty it and take it along our further journey, using it to collect wonderful and redemptive experiences to share with other loved ones and to honor the memory of the lost one.
- We do all those things.
Whatever we do, life still is yours to live. It has fresh peaches in it. It has Kilimanjaro to climb. It is worth living.
drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“What looks like a loss may be the very event which is responsible for producing the major achievement of your life,” – Srully Blotnick, 1941-2004, American author and Journalist
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 16, 2009 | Death - 2001-2011, Marty Coleman |
A bird fell in the brambles,
a place I could not get.
small and frail, not fully grown,
beyond the fence it set.
Wiggle dog brought it attention,
barking incessantly.
The mother and father dive bombing
To keep her away from tree.
This morning she still is there,
breathing shallow I see.
The parents squawking above us,
Wiggle dog fast against the tree.
She is bound to die I know,
It’s sad to contemplate.
Sadder for the parents
unable to change her fate.
The dog, she barks away,
at a bird on it’s last gasp.
Today she barked at something
just beyond her grasp.
Marty Coleman
June 16, 2009
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I ran a long run yesterday. It was a 15k (9.3 miles). It was the first I had run at that length. I did well, better than I expected. My body felt better than expected. Why? Because of the training. I have trained for 12 weeks with a great group that kept me going. We did hills, we did long runs on cold mornings, we did fast runs. We walked, we rested, we pushed, we sprinted.
