Mans best friend

[Tommy_B]

Get a dog Welwell. If only for the simple reason you can fart to your heart's content and blame it on the poor animal!!!

[welwell]

Mate if ever there was a reason that's it!!!!

[Tommy_B]

If only I was paying attention earlier I could've solved the problem and saved everyone writing 120 posts!!!!

[BatiArb]

*********************WARNING*************************

If you are not completely comfortably with the reality and mortal context of life then do not read this posting….

************************************************

 

All a bit deep….intelligent / well read….. well may be…,,to show up dense tree climbers certainly not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Well, shall I put this into context, and do not say I did not warn you…..

 

This is about our relationships with each other, ourselves and other animals, and ultimately the world in which we all live or at least our perception of it.

 

Now, there is a very good reason why I have been reading such philosophically, scientifically and spiritually challenging literature……and challenging in more than one sense of the word considering I am educationally labeled as a dyslexic…….and had never read a book cover to cover until 6 months ago.

 

It is also the reason why I value the time I spend walking my dogs (making it very relevant to this particular thread), one of whom recently died with bone cancer, which was a serious emotional blow considering he spend most of his time shadowing my every move. Mans best friend in the truest sense of the word……

 

Believe me the fact that I have had the responsibility of taking the dogs out for a walk twice a day without fail has indeed had a great deal to do with my clarity of thought over the years and saved me from the turmoil of work induced stress.

 

However, the stress of a working life is not what drove me (or inspired me) to read so deeply…..it was the inevitability of human mortality. Something that I have had to come to terms with over the last few years since it became clear that my wife’s illness was terminal.

 

When you are faced with losing someone with whom you have shared over half your life, it can be a make or break point……and it forces you to face facts that would otherwise pass you by without question….

 

Life has a habit of throwing some pretty curved balls at times…… however, as an arborist I count myself lucky that I work in a profession where my endeavours will have an influence on generations to come, whether they are aware of it or not.

 

This is only possible because I work with trees, and I remain grateful of the fact that arboriculture offers us such fantastic opportunities to influence the lives of organisms that have the capacity to continue growing and surviving for many times longer than we can ever hope to do ourselves.

 

This is one of the reasons why I place so much emphasis on my experiences of ancient trees, because by definition they have lived a particularly long time and intrinsically deserve our respect and admiration…….

 

A quick word for those of you still reading this…..I have come to terms the natural balance of mortality, with the inevitability of life and death……life goes on for the living and for the dead?......well, they live on in the thoughts and actions of the people they touched and influenced……

 

One last request to you all……

 

I have bared my sole to you here on this open forum, but I wish to be treated no different when we next meet,……because keeping up with work has helped me maintain my connection with normality.

 

 

Dedicated to:

 

Maria Catharine (Phelan) Cowan

15th August 1967 – 31st October 2008

 

 

 

.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Sorry for youre loss Andrew,my thoughts are with you.

[Mr Ed]

Nice Post Andrew.

 

Why is it some people cant deal with thinking just beyond the surface?

[welwell]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I'm sure all our thoughts are with you.

[PeteB]

Andrew, my thoughts and best wishes to you.

[Rich Rule]

must have been a difficult post, thanks for the reality check and sorry to hear of your loss.

 

rich.

[Paul Barton]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family Andrew.

 

Paul