Some personal news

Dear Dave - I hope you are slowly feeling a little better after your terrible loss. In a rotten twist of fate, I lost my sister-in-law (44 yrs. old) to breast cancer last Saturday, a week ago today. She and my brother have been together since we were all teenagers, so it feels like I have lost my little sister. She too left behind young children (12 and 13 yr. old girls). I cannot imagine what he and my nieces, and you and your kids are going through. It makes you question faith and what life is really all about when things like this happen.

I feel like I know you through the years and that you are a wonderful person and Dad. I wish you peace and strength and the gift of time when the bad stuff fades and the good times shine through more easily. As others have said, we are all here for you if you need us.

Love and peace - Deb

PatsDeb said:

Dear Dave - I hope you are slowly feeling a little better after your terrible loss. In a rotten twist of fate, I lost my sister-in-law (44 yrs. old) to breast cancer last Saturday, a week ago today. She and my brother have been together since we were all teenagers, so it feels like I have lost my little sister. She too left behind young children (12 and 13 yr. old girls). I cannot imagine what he and my nieces, and you and your kids are going through. It makes you question faith and what life is really all about when things like this happen.

I feel like I know you through the years and that you are a wonderful person and Dad. I wish you peace and strength and the gift of time when the bad stuff fades and the good times shine through more easily. As others have said, we are all here for you if you need us.

Love and peace - Deb

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Deb, Thank you for the well wishes. I am so sorry for your loss. I hope things turn out as well as possible for your brother and his children.

Things are improving here. We're over the shock and initial mourning and now we are putting the pieces of our lives back together. We will be OK.

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words. They have meant the world to me.

Patjew said:

Deb, Thank you for the well wishes. I am so sorry for your loss. I hope things turn out as well as possible for your brother and his children.

Things are improving here. We're over the shock and initial mourning and now we are putting the pieces of our lives back together. We will be OK.

Thank you everyone for all of your kind words. They have meant the world to me.

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Dave, I've always liked your posts and personality, and thought you were clearly a bright and happy person. After reading your posts on this thread (and I think I speak for many) I want to tell you that I admire you as a man. You have handled this with tremendous dignity and grace. Your children are lucky to have you as a father and role model. Should I have to endure something similar I hope I will handle it as you have.

PJ,
My deepest sympathies and prayers for you and yours. Take it one day at a time man, one day at a time. It's all you can do. Be strong for your kids and for you. It WILL become easier but it will be slow too. I feel for you.

Edzo44

PatsDeb said:

Dear Dave - I hope you are slowly feeling a little better after your terrible loss. In a rotten twist of fate, I lost my sister-in-law (44 yrs. old) to breast cancer last Saturday, a week ago today. She and my brother have been together since we were all teenagers, so it feels like I have lost my little sister. She too left behind young children (12 and 13 yr. old girls). I cannot imagine what he and my nieces, and you and your kids are going through. It makes you question faith and what life is really all about when things like this happen.

I feel like I know you through the years and that you are a wonderful person and Dad. I wish you peace and strength and the gift of time when the bad stuff fades and the good times shine through more easily. As others have said, we are all here for you if you need us.

Love and peace - Deb

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Sorry for your loss Deb. Best wishes to you and your family.

I lost my wife nearly 6 years ago to Breast Cancer after a brief 7 month battle. It was an emotional roller coaster. When she was diagnosed it was already stage IV. She was getting better, cancer spread to her brain, she beat the brain cancer, only to have it show up in other places and just as quickly she was gone.

There is no rule book, or game plan for dealing with this. You put one foot in front of the other and try to cope the best you can. Don't hesitate to lean on friends and family. Time will fill the void that you feel now. I never thought that I would find love again, but I met a fine woman who I married just two weeks ago.

I wish you well and you can contact me if I can be of any help with the experience I went through.

Mark

May 22nd (today) is my 13th Wedding Anniversary with my wife.

After all the tragedy spoken and heard in this thread,it makes me realize of what a lucky man I have been and have been blessed with an awesome woman and marriage for all our years together and the focus of this thread makes me realize that I should never take a day together for granted as any day could be the last together so make every anniversary special..which I plan on doing even more so now.

Dear David,

It was heartbreaking to see your news, I am sorry to have not posted earlier, I don't "visit" this site so often during the offseason, so I didn't know this terrible news until today. As many others have shared, I have enjoyed reading your posts over the years, your insight and wit are special. Reading your posts on this thread - and the posts of our fellow members of this forum - has been awe-inspiring and humbling, touching deeply especially I think to those of us whom are blessed with an incredible marriage, children, family and friends. You are a true mensch, and I have to thank you for the strength of character you have shown me and the rest of us denizens of this forum in such an horrendously painful time. It helps me to understand, at least a little bit, the inconceivable. I extend to you my deepest sympathy and condolences, to you, your kids, and your wife and your family, and friends. May you and they soon find peace and happiness in the days to come. To her memory I add in the words of our people,

המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים
May Gd comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem

Respectfully,

Mike

Dave--
I hope that you are starting to feel better after this horrible tragedy, and I echo everything that others have said. I believe that you are a strong person and that your kids are very lucky to have you there during this horrible time.

I remember initially commenting on your tragedy about a year ago, speaking to my wife about it when I found out...then within a couple of weeks I endured something in a similar vein, but without comparison-- myself.

I think of you from time to time when I see you comment, and I hope that you realize that we are all family here in a roundabout way. I am genuinely touched by such caring thoughts and comments from everyone who have commented and reached out to those who are going through pain, yourself obviously included.

Please continue to take care of yourself. Much respect--supafly (Dan)

I hope everyone here is doing ok. It is difficult to cope with a loss. My uncle just got diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer. He can go anytime.

In a way, this is a great blessing. It is a reminder to him and to me that one cannot live forever in this world. This life is transient and fleeting. It is a reminder that we do not own our lives. We have no control of it. How fast has life passed us by when looking back. Death is a portal. This is a good wake up for him to prepare for life after death. How many people get that chance?

I do not wish cancer on myself, that's for sure. But I hope I can remind myself everyday that I too can die anytime. I just hope I can remember to prepare for death.

May God bless all of us. Life is too short to spend bickering, seeking revenge and oppressing.

I just found this forum and read your post. I hope that time has healed you and your children's lives. Keep her in your heart but live and love as she would have wanted.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

--Dwayne

Four years ago today... Incredible how time just keeps on chugging along.

Patjew said:

Four years ago today... Incredible how time just keeps on chugging along.

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Keep well, Dave. (I still owe you a beer ...)

Patjew said:

Four years ago today... Incredible how time just keeps on chugging along.

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thanks for anniversary post of your loss
i'm glad i had a chance to read this thread
it was great what you did here - and everyone else
glad to be part of this

here's one sip of red wine for you!
(Ivan Dolac (plavac mali, fam. Lucić), Island of Hvar, Croatia, barrique, 15,6% alc.
directly from the wine cellar, just before bottling) - best red I know of

long distance said:

here's one sip of red wine for you!
(Ivan Dolac (plavac mali, fam. Lucić), Island of Hvar, Croatia, barrique, 15,6% alc.
directly from the wine cellar, just before bottling) - best red I know of

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Blimey! Do you get that stuff here? I drank plavac 40 years ago (from Peljesac). I can't believe it was 15.6% then.

i hope this is not ruining the nice spirituality of this thread
but let me help you with an answer in honour of our friend here


i'll put it under p.s. here:
unfortunately this one you can get only at Lučić wine cellar at Ivan Dolac village, Island of Hvar and some fine restaurants around the island. Its a small family business, strange guys, one of the few still doing it on their own. You might be able to get another great red from the neighbouring village of Sveta Nedelja - it's called Zlatan Plavac and is a bigger family business (they ship it also to some courts around Europe, and some special places in the US). The problem here is that bigger quantities are from different regions (and quality under same name differs), because this place, like Ivan Dolac, is a very small area, this wineyards are almost on a cliff, so steep slopes you can hardly walk uphill.
Very similar indeed to some wineyards in Pelješac, particularly Dingač area. If you drank that one its one of the greatest as well usually at something over 14%alc. Then you have another small special area for plavac called Postup (my other favourite). But most plavac wines from Pelješac are great, even the ones at 12%alc.


hope nobody minds this excessive answer
to make up for it, I'll have another sip for Dave and his beautiful/painful memories.

PJ has never (since I've known him on this board) been someone to disparage the joys of life, the pleasures of wine included. If he thinks talking about it here is disrespectful, then it's my fault. But it's certainly not intended and I don't think he will be.

I haven't been in Croatia (Yugoslavia, as it then was) since the 70s. My friends used to buy their wine in big plastic containers from the peasants on Peljesac and bottle it themselves. The state wineries were OK, but nothing like as good. The best was Dingac (and I remember the Grk white wine as being pretty good too). I imagine that things are better now. Where are you, if I may ask?

Patjew said:

Four years ago today... Incredible how time just keeps on chugging along.

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Thinking of you and your kids and hope you are all doing well.

Thanks for that, Mike and Deb. Love you guys.

And long distance, that was awesome. Thanks for tipping one back for me!

Mike, I'm going to hold you to that drink you owe me! Would love to do it in early July if you're around.

Patjew said:

Thanks for that, Mike and Deb. Love you guys.

And long distance, that was awesome. Thanks for tipping one back for me!

Mike, I'm going to hold you to that drink you owe me! Would love to do it in early July if you're around.

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Oh, shoot! I'm leaving for Yurp on June 24. Back around 20 August. PM me and we'll see if we can make it work.