53 Comments
Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

mesmerizing story and I felt like I was there with you ... I'm sorry for your loss. Why do I always want to know more about the details, what was up in their life, who they left behind .... this world is getting harder to accept and appreciate unless you have faith, close friends and a purpose .. Thank you for sharing your journey with him ...

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Beautiful tribute, Monica. So odd that you had the thought to look him up so close after he had passed. Like he was prodding you, take a gander, the way back so many moons ago he egged you on to jump in the water.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Thank you for sharing. I don’t think that I talk out of turn when I say that we can relate. My heart aches for all those who aren’t able, for whatever reason, to see even a glimmer of hope and hold on for another day or another moment. May we all find comfort and connection and strength.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Oh My. I can relate on every level... USFS, spectacular altitudes, trout filled high mountain lakes and streams, summer lightning strikes and downpours, missing a chance to apprentice with a forest nurseryman/tree and shrub guru/magician, anddd the young woman who gave me her whole heart and stuck beside me that Rocky Mtn. Forest Service summer before I shipped out to the South China Sea and Nam. James Gang, Blind Faith, Cat Stevens, CSNY. I loved her, her music, the mountains, every moment, to the core. I loved those old forest service shacks and the cabin we lived and loved in, (but I coulda done without the mouse turds in the silverware drawer!) I was writing to her today. She speaks to me every 20 years or so, only briefly. She has a life. I have a few photos and an envelope of poems and unsent letters. And, just as I finished nursing today's letter, I opened your tribute to your Old Flame and as I read your's my tears flowed with you, for you, for him. I love and honor the way your heart, your words spoke to life, to love, to celebration of his life. God Bless you Monica for taking another kind of leap today and sharing with us.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Gorgeous tribute. Thank you for writing this.

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Beautiful, bittersweet memories. May Chris find the solace and peace in the afterlife that eluded him during his time here.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

I'm so sorry for your loss. Heartbreaking!

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Jun 7, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

"I can tell you

My love for you will still be strong

After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you

Your brown skin shining in the sun

You got your hair slicked back and those wayfarers on baby

I can tell you my love for you will still be strong

After the boys of summer have gone."

Boys Of Summer...Songwriters: Don Henley / Michael W Campbell

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Jun 8, 2022·edited Jun 8, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

What a wonderful tribute. It's amazing how people touch us, and they're gone. I felt there with you, as you described your meeting him. Your story reminds me of my own reaching out, to those people who've touched me decades back. It also reminds me to keep reaching, as there are many I've yet to thank for helping me in my journey. As too, I've lost a few.

Thank you so much for sharing this part of you.

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Jun 7, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Thanks for your reflection. The cosmos has things in mind that produce such findings. Just as somehow our animals can sense the future. How an instant in time can change things forever. The voice of my late wife appearing in my mind.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Totally choked me up. In those past moments of time we rarely are aware of the significance of what seem at the time to be meaningless experiences but which endure far longer than moments we thought were significant.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

I am so sorry. 💙

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

That was a marvellous sweet story to read with my morning coffee. Thank you so much for sharing.

You weave a good story

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So sad, taking ones own life. Lovely story.

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Jun 6, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

I'm so sorry 😞

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Jun 7, 2022Liked by Monica Hughes PhD

Beautiful and heartfelt tribute! I have lived in Warren all my 50 years and it really is a beautiful little place in the ANF.

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