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It's good to have a good dock to tie the ship to...


Wheelerswife
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I was chatting with a widower friend today and we were talking topics such as direction, wandering and growth.  For me, school gives me my major direction in life right now.  My friend then said, "It's good to have a good dock to tie the ship to."  Brilliant metaphor for the moment, I thought.  My ship tosses a lot, as I'm sure other people's ships do as well.  I wish the waters were more calm and I could venture out with my ship more, but sometimes, when the waves are too big, it is best to stay tethered to the dock.

 

So...what is the dock that you tie your ship to? When you take your ship out of the harbor, where do you venture?

 

Maureen

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Guest Munsen

My faith.

 

That has been the bedrock on which I stand. When everything else crumbled with hubby's death, my faith gave me the hope and strength to go on. The belief that God was still in the Heavens, that hubby's death might have some purpose (even though it was unseen by me) and that God still had some plan for me being here and surviving that shock.

 

When things around me get scary or the grief waves crash too loudly, I go to the Bible and find comfort in its pages. Those verses that tell me that I'm being molded and refined and made more like Jesus encourage & strengthen me.

 

That is the dock that I tie my fragile boat to.

 

 

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I would agree with Munsen, though I think Munsen stated it so much more eloquently than I ever could have.  My faith has brought me through many a troubled storm, long before I met my Kenneth; and my faith has grown stronger, since his death.  At times, when I felt the grief was more than I could possibly bare, I found comfort in prayer, in the passages from the Bible, and in hymns.  When I have been lost and adrift, and felt I couldn't possibly find the shore, in order to tether my boat, all I had to do was call on one of my faithful Christian family members or friends.  Their prayers on my behalf, when I was too troubled to pray for myself, has always given me hope and the strength to put one foot in front of the other and to keep moving.

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I don't have a dock to really anchor to. I don't feel as if I quite figured that part out yet. You would think I would have by now at my age. Everything seems to be afloat and I used to think I had anchors but a storm came in and washed them away. How do you find a new one? I really have no idea. Where do you begin? I haven't figured that out either, so I just go with the tides and hope that eventually it will come to me? Not a clue!

 

A very good question Wheelerswife.:) I just wish I had a better answer and grip on it .

 

Cyndi

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My "dock" is Heavenly Father. That's my foundation. I'll admit my tie is a tenuous one. Admittedly, I don't always like His ways, His methods, and definitely not His timing.

 

I don't always understand His will, His plans, or why He allows certain things. He's alright with that, I believe. He was once human, Himself!

 

Yet, a strand of my faith has survived all that I've endured because my faith is foundational to me. It's rooted at my core, and there's comfort in knowing that God is within me (within my heart), around me, and above me. His plans--which stretch so far and wide that I can't view them all at once, are made with my best in mind, even if I don't always enjoy some of them, in the short-term.

 

Baylee

 

 

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Music has been the thing that I can always get a rope around.  I talk to myself so much about music these days I wonder if anyone would read a blog with my musical thoughts.  Just don't compare me to @Gracelet :-)

 

Speaking of which ... a pertinent song starts at 0:54.  I wish you could hear the studio version (right @smabify? :))

 

 

Take care,

Rob T

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My kids and our home.  It's not as stable as I would like sometimes, this dock needs some TLC and shoring up to be strong enough for the long haul.  When I venture out it usually a quick trip to a safe, well known harbor for some change of scenery with friends or with new guy, then right back to my own dock.

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This is one of my favorite quotes.  From an Irish folk song, I think:

 

"There is a ship, and it sails the sea

It's loaded deep, as deep as can be.

But not as deep as the love I'm in:

I know not how I sink or swim."

 

Kind of sums it up for me!

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Guest marian1953

"'Some say the heart is just like a wheel

When you bend it you can't mend it

But my love for you is like a sinking ship

And my heart is on that ship out in mid-ocean"

 

What I think of when I think of a ship?

Rob, I stand corrected. That song goes back to 1600's Scotland, other versions, then I the one you mentioned. All pretty grim! I had a friend ask me once- and his last name was Kelliher, so, why did all the Irish love songs sound so mournful and sorrowful and melancholy and all our battle songs were happy and lively- the traditional songs. He was kinda right.

 

Yes, please Rob at the bistro! Do requests?

 

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Oh Marian, what a great song to quote - I love Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and found them through Linda Ronstadt's cover on my favorite album of the early 70s.  I got addicted to "Heart Like A Wheel" from my sister's 8-track first, I think.  I've been able to sing "Faithless Love" well for well over 30 years now.

 

BTW, the tune to The Water Is Wide is likely very old, but these guys make a strong case that the song as we know it was a novel coupling of some older themes in 1906: http://www.justanothertune.com/html/wateriswide.html .  You're right about Celtic love songs being bleak - a high body count seems de riguer.  There are a few genuinely sweet ones, though - "Red Is The Rose" and "Tiree Love Song" come to mind.

 

@wheelerswife Maureen, I think we have absconded with your thread, sorry!

 

Take care,

Rob T

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Guest marian1953

yes, sorry Maureen! Rob, when you think about the musical family that she started with Louden Wainright?did you know the Nick Cave album she and Anna

did vocals for?

ps thanks for the added info - yes, those are two lovely songs. I have to remmber to listen to your radio show- give it a pitch here!

Marian

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My parents.  I know I am lucky in this, and I feel gratitude every day for them, and their support.  They are still together (high school sweethearts), so they don't know what I am feeling, and sometimes I get frustrated, but they still have been amazing, doing the best they can.  Just wish they lived somewhere close by.

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I don't feel very anchored in my life either. However, my docks are my gardening, scrapbooking and my son.  I look at my son and he keeps me going, he's my reason :)  My other dock is my widda buddies and this group!

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Guest marian1953

My home by the beach that I was able to buy as a result of suing Peter's attorney for malpractice. Damn, I love saying that.

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