Long Ago And Far Away

Introduction

This is using a Vocal writing prompt from this article:

The prompt is:

Write about a defining moment in your childhood that shaped who you are today.

The music is the sea shanty "South Australia" by The Dubliners

Long Ago And Far Away

I have written about this before but it is appropriate for the prompt, and though we have said things in the past we can always say them again, and it will always be different from last time.

I always say I am the worst person to be at a funeral, because I remember all the good things about the departed and am not usually sad, and this is the story of one of the many reasons for that.

I have built up many thoughts about what happens when we leave this plane and I am hopeful that we continue on somewhere but these have no more factual basis than all faith-based religions, but I loved David Lynch's statement on what he thought would happen:

David Lynch saw death as part of a larger "continuum," not a final end. He believed that people "drop their physical body" but are not truly gone. He often used phrases like "Keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole" to illustrate his belief that focusing on the positive, the good, is more important than dwelling on the negative or the absence.

Anyway back to the point of this story. In the mid-sixties, my uncle Trevor became a ten-pound pom and went to start a new life in Australia, crossed the equator on the Oriana and sent letters back to us in England.

I didn't think too much about this although I thought that I would never see him again. Then we had a Christmas phone call which cost a fortune and I started to think, even though I couldn't see him, or play football with him, or go and see Preston North End with him (he is probably a big reason why I still support them), I could talk to him. Today it is different, if he could be bothered to get a decent device we could have a video call, but he has dropped contact with me.

I got to thinking that when someone has departed either somewhere far away or on this mortal plain, we cannot be as close to them as we were, but we can believe that they are still there in some form. We have our memories and photographs, and maybe letters and special shared items, so we keep them with us always no matter where they are.

You may think I am callous and heartless for being like this, but when someone goes they do not want us to be sad at all, they would want us to remember all that was good to do with them.

I have been to funerals and heard some great music played to remember the departed and they wanted remembrance to be a happy occasion.

We all believe that we are immortal, and some are more immortal than others. My writing on Vocal, my blog, my books and my YouTube channel effectively means that I am digitally immortal and I do believe that evolution will not let our minds just end.

As I say, I have no factual basis for that but it does make life easier to deal with.

In the sixties, I was scared of diseases as so many were end of life. Now they are not, and I have been on the receiving end of a few instances and have come through ok as you know because I am writing this.

I will continue with my own beliefs and if I can let you know I will.

Thank you for reading