a peacefull mind...and thinking with your heart

Years ago I had a friend who was dying in a little hospital room in Fairbanks Alaska. A veteran of the Vietnam War...and a former prisoner of that war. He was an older man when I met him. He had little of the vigor of the younger man he was...but something in him remained...intact. Something of the young boy he was...still came through every now and then...he had survived war...to return home to find his wife and child had long ago left him...to find another life.

One evening after I got to know him a little...he showed me a picture he kept in his wallet. Yellowed with age, this piece of history...his history...showed the tale of a man lost in time...long gone by. A woman and a child...his child...would forever be beyond his worldly claim. He never remarried...and never saw the child he helped bring into the world. His only connection to those he loved...a yellowed picture...

So...it was on a chilled evening, I sat holding this man's hand. Alone in a little room , waiting for time to expire...in his years of living. How odd it was, for me...to sit in a room with someone I hardly knew...not wanting to let go...of his frail hand.

His voice was low, his breathing shallow, but something in his eyes was still alive. I would read to him, talk to him...and be silent wit him. At one point, he opened his brilliant blue eyes...and smiled a smile of such serenity and peace. I asked, "are you in any pain?" "No", he answered. Then he said the most remarkable thing. "I am at peace, Diana." Peace? Here was a man...whose last breath would come soon, in a place far from home...whatever that place was...with a virtual stranger...no family, or close friends to see him on his final journey. But he was at peace. I asked him if he needed anything. No...he didn't...

Then he squeezed my hand gently...and asked me to contact his son. "Let him know I always loved him...he was always in my heart." That was when I realized...what peace he spoke of. He hadn't analyzed all of the things that had happened to him...he never questioned the fate of his life. He simply lived out his years,..accepting that which he could not change...and transcending the transgressions that came from war...loss, and more.

When he took his final breath...he was indeed at peace. A man of peace given the worse life can offer...whose heart remained clear...leading with it...and not his mind.

There are many paths our lives take...each road full of choice and chance. Sometimes we take the road we are meant to take...other times...we take the wrong one. But, there is something wonderful in the simple idea...that no matter which road we take, all roads lead to one...and in that final moment...I believe if we live with our hearts...we will find the peace of mind and soul, that gives meaning to all that came before.

Peace...a place for quiet landings...and loving reminders of just how precious life really is.

Tonight I remembered that little room, and my friend...and his graceful exit from the world that had been difficult...perhaps he knew in that final moment, that he would rest with the angels...or perhaps he had been resting with them...all along.

If you find yourself in a restless place...then think with your heart...the mind is a muddled thing..and not too attached to the soul...the heart, well it is not the cardio pump...it is the souls attachment to our little bodies...and the only thing, that makes us human after all.

Oh...and I did finally find his son...and told him what his father said. "I always knew he loved me...I could sense it..." See...living in the heart...is all that we need.

Love the lass