Santa Claus, Aragorn and inevitable separations

People, I must say from the start, is a blog post that I had hoped that I would not have to write for many years to come. In 2020, I wrote an article on my godmother when she died who spoke of the really cool person that he was and the way he facilitated my interest in transformers. A few weeks ago, her beloved husband, my godfather Jim, joined her in the Grand Beyond. My previous blog was a kind of praise for her, which helped me to reconcile with her loss; This one is in memory of him, which, I hope, will serve as a similar basis.

As with my godmother, it is difficult to really express how much he had an influence on my life. Growing up, it was like having a third grandfather. Functionally, that’s what it was, even if we were not linked to blood. My godparents took me to their life at such a young age that I don’t remember. They have simply been there.

So, yes, I am in this phase of sorrow where I try to understand a world that does not have Jim in it. There is one of the most intelligent and wisest people I have ever known. He was my mentor for life, my moral compass, and much more. Like my godmother, she was a fairly interesting person. He was a manufacturer and engineer, a natural leader, a teacher, a speaker and a diving instructor. In fact, when I learned to dive, it was he who taught me – just one of the many life skills that he transmitted to me over the years.

Also as my godmother, he helped to feed my interest in transformers. He was responsible for many of the biggest sets that I have received over the years, notably Omega Supreme, Jetfire, Megatron, Metroplex and (in particular) Sixshot, which he made for my birthday.

His work has often taken him to Dallas, where he would travel the various toy stores in the United States looking for toys for me. He also did not stop at Transformers. Other toy lines like Mask, Starriors and Voltron were one of those he found for me. I am lucky to have kept a lot of these gifts from him, which are even now on the shelves of my office while I write these words.

Santa Claus and child wonder

Regarding gifts, it was the man I literally thought I was Santa Claus when I was a young child. He told me by passing that he was secretly Santa Claus, and I thought he was joking. Jim had lost part of his right index in an accident in years before my birth. This detail will be temporarily important.

Well, when I was about three or four years old, my godmother took me to see Santa Claus a few weeks before Christmas. When it was finally my turn to approach me, Santa Claus greeted me by name. It seemed pretty on the brand for Santa Claus, keeping in mind that I didn’t think it was just a guy in a costume, I thought it was THE Santa Claus I was going to see. He seemed to know everything about me, who also seemed to follow.

It was only when I looked at his hand that realized that Santa Claus was Also missing this part of his index. Everything clicked in my mind. I had my “wait, you ARE Santa Claus! ” moment.

Even if his character as Santa Claus finally passed out in the background, my esteem for him remained forever at this level.

Aragorn and mandos rooms

A few months ago, I wrote an article on fantastic dwarfs and why I think they are so cool. In this document, I mentioned the Clamavi group of Profundis, which perfected the art of dwarf song. They adapted many poems by Professor Tolkien in songs. This also includes Aragorn’s coronation song that we hear at the end of Peter Jackson King’s return.

They start with the poem itself, but after the first recitation, the voice of a young woman sings the poem “all that is gold” to Tolkien Elvish who is both beautiful and haunting, resembling something completely outside a score by Howard Shore. Then we get a resumption of the coronation poem, but this time, other voices are raised to join the main voice. If you watch the video, it is implied that they are ancestors of Aragorn, his ancestors becoming a choir to have the recitation of Aragorn, as if they preached the newly crowned King Elessar, part of their strength beyond the veil of death.

I listened to this song after discovering that Jim had left, and it really affected me. It took a few days to recognize this catharsis when it came, but I think I have an understanding now. To a certain extent, what was true for Aragorn in this song is true for Jim and I now. I will not enter into the existence or the non-existence of a life after death here, but whatever the metaphysics involved, part of the inheritance of Jim understands all the life lessons that he taught me, the wisdom he transmitted. In a very real sense, I am the man I am today because of him. These lessons are echoing now in the present.

As I said, he was a teacher. Since he is no longer there to guide me in the journey of my life, I must continue to put into practice the principles and the philosophy he gave me. What remains now is to see if I can maintain them with as much vigor and character as Jim. It’s a difficult act to follow, let me tell you.

Although I would have liked to have it much longer, the truth is that no time would have been sufficient. I would have always wanted more. And although it is difficult to accept, I must be satisfied with the time that we did have together. If this last bit reminds you a little of Gandalf’s speech “all those who live to see such moments” Fellowship of the RingIt is not an error. Right now, I am going to decide what to do with the time given to you.

Of inevitable separations

Although I didn’t care about Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull KingdomThere was a scene that really talked to me. Indy sits at her office while packing up for her next adventure. He looks at a photo of his father, Henry Jones Senior, and another of his longtime friend, Marcus Brody. His friend, Charles Standform (played by the wonderful Jim Broadbent), says: “We seem to have reached the age when life ceases to give us things and begins to remove them.”

Now, I have reached age, where the titans of my youth began to fade. We are all subject to the essential time. It is our fate to possibly say goodbye to all those around us, or to us. The inevitability of these separations does not do much to prepare us when they occur. I knew that Jim would one day disappear, but I am struggling with how much his loss affects me now that the day in question has finally arrived.

Now it’s not a dark and distant theoretical future. Listen, I certainly have no monopoly on sorrow. We all have to go through this at some point in our lives. But I will be damned If it is not an emotional boost every time. It fears, and the only way to follow with sorrow is over.

But I guess this is the price we pay to love others, right? If we do not go, there would be no pain in times like this. As much as the sorrow that I feel now weighs now, as much as it seems that there is a hole in my heart, if I must now endure these dark days for having enjoyed so many years before with Jim in my life, so too bad.

Final reflections

Whether for good or for patients, 2024 will drop as a year of transition for me on several levels. Part of this change was welcome, but not without its own challenges. Other parties, such as this loss and others, have been devastating. They definitely left me their mark.

By returning to Gandalf for a while, during the separation of the gray paradise, he said to the assembled hobbits, “I will not say: don’t cry; Because all tears are not evil. “I must continue to remember this fact.

This only emphasizes that we should be present for each other in the time we TO DO have together. In the bustle of daily life, we can often lose sight of this fact. I know that happens to me, but the truth is that life is temporary, impermanent, a limited-term commitment, so take advantage of it.

If you like someone in your life, say it often. Continue to tell them that. If it’s been a while since you have connected with someone who is close to you, contact him. If there is a resentment, you can give up, do it. I guess what I try to say is as follows: Life is short, so the love of all your heart.

Certainly, one of these days, we will have to say this last goodbye, but this time has not yet come. So, let’s take advantage of it, okay?

Thank you for reading.