Saying Goodbye
Here's a new writing prompt: Saying Goodbye. I thought it might help us to have a place to write to Robert and to each other about our loss. Or people may want to write about any time they've had to say goodbye to a person, a situation, a place.
posted by Donna Sewell at
11:21 AM
3 Comments:
I had no idea that Robert was so sick. David called to tell me, and I was stunned--as everyone has been. The next morning I asked Wes if David had really called the night before with the news. I hoped it was a vivid, awful dream, but it wasn't. I can still picture him, sitting in the corner between Lisa and Alex, cracking jokes, creating laughter.
When he did his teaching demonstrations on blogs, he helped most of us get online and create our own. I plan to use mine this year in my Writing for Teachers classes as a place for people to post writing exercises and to continue the community outside of class. He kept saying, "Don't make me take off my belt." When we didn't get the Pootie Tang reference, he explained it, then showed us part of the movie the next day by posting it to our blog.
I miss him. I expected to know him even better throughout the year, seeing him at conferences, getting together occasionally, joining us for Write Nights. I still can't believe that he's gone, but I'm glad I got to know him.
I'll also miss David and Tahshia as they move to other jobs, other positions, other communities. Tahshia created this online community a while ago (thank you, thank you, thank you, Tahshia); then you folks brought it to life. Tahshia served as Tech Liaison in addition to Co-Director this year, creating a professional web presence for us. I hope Tahshia continues to post. I envy her words sometimes, particularly "the pageantry of hats." I think I'll re-read all her posts to pull evocative words and phrases to use as writing prompts for next summer.
David and I knew each other years ago (8 or 9 or 10?). I have enjoyed reconnecting with him this past year. When I visited Douglas to interview Robert and another teacher, I could see David's ability to foster community enacted in his classroom, in the graffiti-covered couches and the endless picturs of former students covering the walls.
By
Donna Sewell, at 1:21 PM
Saying good bye is always a hard thing to do. Wait a minute, that’s a lie. Sometimes saying goodbye is really easy, but that’s another subject. I have never really had to say “goodbye.” I am a “see you later” kinda guy. I would like to believe that at some point I will see everyone again. It’s shocking to hear that someone you were just talking to a couple of days ago will never be able to talk to you again. I was only around Robert five days. Five days. And I can’t help but feel the loss on a personal level. I look at life differently than most folks I guess, and I also look at death differently. Archer, my four year old, has been asking me a lot of questions about death recently. It’s kinda scared me to tell the truth, but I’ve been honest with him. He asked me the other night when I was putting him to bed if I was going to die. I told him that I would one day, and he wanted to know who his daddy would be then. I explained to him that I would always be his daddy, and I would always love and be with him. We talked about how all things die. That it’s part of life and everything goes back to where it came from. I think he understood, but I don’t know. Life is precious. Death is part of that. It’s another date on the timeline. I think how you live is a lot more important though. All the other ticks add up to a whole lot more. I hope that when it comes my time to die that it’s all I got left to do. My brother contracted encephalitis last November and was on the verge of death. He is better now, but still not out of the woods. That situation really made me think of what I am doing with my life. It made me ask myself if I was doing anything valuable with my time here. I would like to think so. A lot of the time I can’t back far enough away from a situation to really tell. I feel like I’ve rambled really just to say that Robert is missed. I was really looking forward to working more with him in the future, but what he brought and shared with all of us this summer will last many lifetimes.
By
Adam, at 7:57 PM
I am still shocked by Robert's death. It hasn't hit home with me yet that he's gone. He seemed so happy. He sat at my table and we joked all the time. It is wierd being able to laugh and talk with someone and a few weeks later they are no longer there. Saying goodbye is very hard for me. My grandmother passed away a year ago and it is still hard for me to believe she is gone. I sometimes plan on visiting her when I go home, forgetting that she is not there anymore. It is important to live life to the fullest because tomorrow is not ours.
By
Kim, at 11:42 PM
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