Loss

Loss: noun

1.

detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep,have, or get: to bear the loss of a robbery.

2.

something that is lost: The painting was the greatest loss fromthe robbery.

3.

an amount or number lost: The loss of life increased each day.

4.

the state of being deprived of or of being without somethingthat one has had: the loss of old friends.

5.

death, or the fact of being dead: to mourn the loss of a grandparent

Loss, I'm certain EVERY single person has experienced some sort of loss by the above definition.  Some of them easier to cope with than others, but nonetheless, still a loss.  

I have been away from Blogonnia  for a day or so, struggling as so many of us do, with the tragedy of loss.   There are SO many things that we have taken from us as we "mature" and evolve into the responsible adults that we eventually ALL have to become.

First of all there are the loss of material things, though they may anger or hurt us because of sentimental value or whatever, are what I consider the least of all of the losses.  Anything material can be eventually gained again, with enough time and effort.  



There are of course the loss of "loves" that we consider to be SO vital and real in our younger years... then as we grow older we question our judgement on being with the person at all.  These losses, while traumatic at the time, end up usually being some of the best building blocks for growing into realistic minded, "mature" adults.  Noone that I know though, can say they will ever forget the Loss of their first "love".



Of course there are the loss of pets, which anyone whose had a pet for any amount of time can attest is a sorrowful experience indeed.  We lost a miniature schnauzer that we'd had for nearly 13 years to a brutish neighborhood black lab a few years ago and the experience seriously hurt both my kids who considered him a member of the family as they had never remembered a 
time without him.


Another loss that I find heartbreaking, is the loss of youth, and everything that youth entails.  Especially childhood.  The innocence, the willingness to believe that ANYTHING is possible if only you choose to believe.  The view of the world as a welcoming adventure ripe for conquering, and not as it is today...a place where you need to hide yourself behind closed doors, don't trust anyone, and look out for number one, because someone is always  right behind you ready to take your place or do you in.  The death of the innocence of childhood/youth, and the dreams and ambitions that came along and died with them, is surely one of the greatest tragedies of ones life. 

Then there are the more serious  Losses of  family/friends to death for whatever reason.  I, personally lost my hero when I was 12 years old in my Grandpa Hanks, he was the lighthouse in the storm of my  turbulent childhood.  I could do NO wrong in his eyes and even on the day he died he defended me against what he perceived as unjust punishment by my father, who was a very no-nonsense "spare the rod" type of parent, to say the absolute least.  Grandparents and older loved ones are expected losses, sad as they may be at the time, and I can attest, that they are traumatic, especially for a 12 year old who idolizes the one lost, but there are also the unexpected losses, the ones that sneak up on you that you NEVER see coming, or that you blind yourself from the possibility of them occurring.

I have written, on one occasion, about such a loss from one of my closest, dearest friends that was taken from all of us much too soon.  https://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=111105135576481  

There have been several other friends that I've lost due to the cruel clutches of addiction, but I digress, because this is not the intended course of my blog.

The thing about ANY loss is that it brings to the foreground everything that there is still to lose.  Loss, of any kind, should inspire people to cling to the remnants of possessions, loves and  relationships, family/loved ones, that we STILL have and clutch them to us, and thank whatever higher power we thank daily that we have so much, when there are so many with absolutely nothing!

Thanks for bearing with my slightly more melancholy rantings tonight, but it's been weighing on my mind for 2 days now, and now the burden is lifted, as Scarlett O'Hara said in Gone With the Wind, (incidentally my FAVORITE movie of all time for reasons that I'm sure I'll delve into soon enough), "...tomorrow is another day!" 

Here is a song by one of my favorite song writers/performers, who while dealing with the realization of his own cancer and the fact that he was facing the impending Loss of his own life, stopped to remake a song about all the good things in this crazy thing we call life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IoO5nkxT_4