Hi all,
I know that I have been away for awhile...I have had a great deal going on, some good and some not so good. here is an e mail I got from some friends upstate. I found it very touching aand wanted to share. I realize that there may be some mild disagreement with their beliefs with some members of the Forum, but it is remarkable and I hope people will read it.
Hi everyone,
Bob and I had an experience we'd like to share with you, and we've chosen email because we're not all in the same centers. We had a sad shock on Sunday, which turned out to be a conscious shock for us as well. We were volunteering as race marshals for a local bike race in downtown Saratoga Springs. One of the other volunteers, Natalia Fox Hogan, was a woman we had met on rides with our cycling club. Natalia and her young son worked the morning shift; then Natalia got ready to race in the afternoon and we joked, along with her close friend, Maddie, about how they'd do in the race.
Bob and I were stationed a couple of blocks from each other, cheering for Natalia and Maddie on each lap. Bob could see very quickly that Natalia was having a bad day. She was 40 years old and very physically active; but everyone has a bad day once in awhile. Natalia fell off the pace after the first lap, looked very tired, and was actually lapped by the main body of racers. I heard the finish and saw the winning racers come past slowly on a cool down lap as Natalia was attempting to finish her final race lap.
Then I heard over race radio that there had been a crash. I was really surprised because, for all intents and purposes, that race was over. I heard calls for EMTs. Soon Bob called on the cell phone to tell me that it was Natalia who had crashed. We reminded each other to work with the Masters for help. He was closer and got to Natalia before I did; he saw that she was unresponsive as paramedics were working on her. I got there as she was being loaded onto the ambulance. Maddie, who we only know from bike rides, grabbed me in a bear hug and was crying. People were saying that they didn't think Natalia was going to make it.
Bob and I soon got to the hospital, just blocks away. By the time we got there, Natalia was already dead. We joined her close friends in a private room and as we talked we learned that Natalia may have had a seizure (as far as anyone knew, she had not been prone to them) and that may be why she crashed. Her husband gave permission for us to go in small groups to say goodbye briefly. He and their 11 year old son were in the room but, as you can imagine, grief stricken.
It was striking to see this lifeless body that had been Natalia just moments earlier. We had never been with a human body so recently vacated by the Essence. We experienced directly that the body had not been Natalia; that body carried what was and still is "Natalia" - her Essence. It was crystal clear to us that what had been most "real" about her wasn't that body, the real part had moved out of that body.
We reflected on why we seemed to be so central to what unfolded, given that we didn't know Natalia or Maddie all that well, didn't know Natalia's family at all. This past week, Bob and I have been working on observing our motor-instinctive center and the part it plays in our lives. This brought tragic focus to our Work. We also realized that we were at the hospital to lend support and love to all the friends who had gathered the best we could. And it was a reminder for us about how important it is to be grateful for our lives and for everyone in our lives, to let them know, and to take nothing for granted. So, we're letting you, our Gnostic brothers and sisters, know. We give thanks to the Masters, and we affirm the need to remember our Work in every moment.
One more thing happened in the hospital that we want to share. As we walked to Natalia's room in the ER to say goodbye, we passed a woman on a gurney in the hallway. She had a very bad bump on her head and an ice pack. On our way back to the friends & family room, she caught our eye and tearfully said she was so sorry for our loss. Later, as Bob escorted Maddie and a friend to Natalia's room, he waited in that hallway and, again, on the way past the woman on the gurney, she offered her sincere condolences. Even in her pain, she was able to open her heart to complete strangers. Bob stopped and took her hand and spoke with her briefly. It was so touching and an important reminder of how connected we all are, that we can comfort and be comforted by "total strangers." It seemed like the presence of the Divine Mother to us, perhaps one of her Angels of Death with whom we were working.
Sending peace and love, Donna & Bob
Topic: A beautiful story of the spirit (Read 547 times)