{"id":2592,"date":"2016-11-21T12:44:03","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T17:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=2592"},"modified":"2016-11-21T13:40:11","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T18:40:11","slug":"the-circle-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2592","title":{"rendered":"The circle of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>This weekend found the boss-lady and I down in Pensacola, FL again. \u00a0This time we traveled south to say goodbye to a good friend. \u00a0Remember Shirley<\/a>? \u00a0We traveled down here to join her and her family in saying goodbye to their father, a long time friend of the boss-lady and I. \u00a0In fact, he was instrumental in the joining of the boss-lady and I. \u00a0A thing that I have thanked him for, and cursed him for, over the years.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you a little bit about this man who, while seemingly rough and ill-spoken on the outside, had a heart as big as Texas. I first met him when we served together aboard a mighty warship, the name of which doesn’t matter. \u00a0He kept trying to introduce me to a relative here, or a relative there, and I always rejecting his offers. \u00a0He did however manage to introduce me to his wife’s cousin (the boss-lady). \u00a0Our lives have never been the same. \u00a0Now, just shy of our 30th year together; we are saying goodbye to the man who paired me with my better half. \u00a0And for that I’ll be forever grateful.<\/p>\n

Even in his downward spiral he wanted to help others, and people have been coming out of the woodwork to let his family know just how highly regarded he was in his little corner of society. \u00a0And that gift, call it grace if you want to, is something to be remembered.<\/p>\n

There is a mourning ring<\/a> that seems oddly appropriate for him. \u00a0I ran across the image in an article<\/a> entitled “Love after Death: The Beautiful, Macabre World of Mourning Jewelry” on the website io9<\/a>. \u00a0the article goes on to explain the ring was created sometime in the late 1700s, what makes this ring special is the ship, which collectors say is uncommon among these types of items, which usually feature urns or willows. The ship’s presence on a ring like this represents the journey into the afterlife, while the beached anchor symbolizes hope for those the loved one left behind. And if you look closer you can see that the golden details on the ship were created out of tiny bits of hair. The deceased’s hair was chopped up and used to paint with, and oftentimes incorporated into the piece of jewelry itself.<\/p>\n

It was also appropriate that at the church we attended Sunday morning, there was a baptism of a young infant boy. \u00a0The point wasn’t lost on me. \u00a0The circle of life continues, one life ends and another begins. \u00a0Such is life, maybe, just maybe a piece of my friends soul will end up in this boy.<\/p>\n

Goodbye my friend – Fair Winds and Following Seas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend found the boss-lady and I down in Pensacola, FL again. \u00a0This time we traveled south to say goodbye to a good friend. \u00a0Remember Shirley? \u00a0We traveled down here to join her and her family in saying goodbye to … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[79,69],"class_list":["post-2592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-doing-good","tag-family"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2609,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2609","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":0},"title":"After the Office Christmas Party…","author":"DR D","date":"December 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The other week my cat was talking to his girlfriend, you may remember her, Jazz. \u00a0It appears that Jazz had a note on her desk when she got back to work from lunch the other day (See the picture on the left). \u00a0She was, you could say: distressed. After this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20161130_151140_resized-237x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1145,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1145","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":1},"title":"Wyndham Skyline Tower – Atlantic City","author":"DR D","date":"November 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning boys and girls.\u00a0 Last weekend saw the boss lady and I in Atlantic City, NJ.\u00a0 We stayed at the Wyndham Skyline Tower, near the Resorts Casino. I was talking to my one and only faithful ready; yep, my cat.\u00a0 Anyway, he said I should write a review of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Timeshares"","block_context":{"text":"Timeshares","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/travel\/timeshare"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":940,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/940","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":2},"title":"What\u2019s a Poor Congressman To Do?","author":"John Sweeney","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My congressman sent out an e-mail in which he was inexplicably whining about some backlash he\u2019s gotten from his constituents over some recent political decisions.\u00a0 He appeared genuinely perplexed at why we would be upset, and went on to wonder if compromise and \u201cgetting along\u201d would ever be possible in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AoM"","block_context":{"text":"AoM","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/rants-raves\/aom"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1004,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1004","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":3},"title":"Memorial Day 2013","author":"DR D","date":"May 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight I watched the National Memorial Day concert on PBS. It was really good and touching. There was a very moving story about two brothers, one who lost a leg, and his brother; who took his own life due to PTSD. There was alos a tribute to Charles Durning. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"Holding the National Ensign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/holdingTheColors-2005-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":866,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/866","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":4},"title":"Is your hard drive REALLY defragged?","author":"DR D","date":"February 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning everyone!\u00a0 Today's post is all about keeping your digital house in order. As you all know, I'm kind of a prick when it comes to keeping your computer clean and free of bugs.\u00a0 As I commonly state, \"Safe computing has a lot in common with safe sex, cleanliness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/computing"},"img":{"alt_text":"A very cluttered hard drive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/DrD-Defrag-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2555,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2555","url_meta":{"origin":2592,"position":5},"title":"Rest in Peace Swift","author":"DR D","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On October 1, 2016 the HSV-2 Swift, a proof of concept ship, was severely damaged in a missile attack off the coast of Mokha, Yemen. \u00a0A friend of mine served on her while the ship was under the\u00a0US Navy. \u00a0He said she was a fine ship and a delight to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2595,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions\/2595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}