Memories: Eternal life achieved

Yesterday, members of the Locker family, the Lackawanna College community and many others were reminded, once again, how fragile life is.  No matter our size or strength, or the heart and vigor with which we live, we cannot escape an inevitable end.  But when that end comes to one so young, we are left floundering, grieving, holding on to memories that in such a short time are many, but still too few.  We struggle with the concept of moving on although we know that's what must be done, and what those who have gone before us would want us to do. 

We often tell ourselves that, despite our troubles, we should be thankful for each day and live it to the fullest, but we also frequently forget to do so.  We need to remember.  We need to remember to be thankful for each day with family and friends, we need to remember to laugh, we need to remember to recognize that something positive and good happens to or for us everyday even amidst despair, we need to remember to cry and mourn our losses, and we need to remember to love.  Life is fragile and often too short, but while we're here, life is all we have.

As I sit here writing this, memories of my mother and father and others who have passed on are flashing through my head at so fast a speed I cannot keep up.  Things they've said and done, the love they showed and gave, the joy they had for and with each other and the joy they shared with us.  Somehow, in death, even the bad times take on new meaning because I can look back and see that through it all there was a lesson to be learned, a message to be heard, a memory to be made, and the realization that no matter what we survived.  Life's lessons and memories forever ingrained in my head, in my heart and in my soul.  A part of me, as much now as they were then.  A part of them given life eternal in my heart and mind and in the hearts and minds of everyone they've touched, a part of them that will be passed on from one living soul to another and never left to die.

To mom and dad, to Kyle and all those who have gone on to a life we've yet to know...we miss you, we love you, and we will always remember you.  You have made a lasting impression on our lives, and for that we thank you, for that you have achieved eternal life in the memories that we will share and pass on.  You have, if even in a small way, helped us to grow and you continue to help us learn that life is a precious gift.  A gift that we will come to cherish and one that we will share with you again in a time and place yet unknown.

Laura Duda (20 August 2011)

Welcome to our Brookvalley Farm Blogspot: Carbondale, PA - Pioneer Nights and Ethnic Heritag...

Welcome to our Brookvalley Farm Blogspot: Carbondale, PA - Pioneer Nights and Ethnic Heritag...: Carbondale Pioneer Nights - Ethnic Heritage Festival Celebrating Our City's Rich Heritage What? Really? Kudos, Carbondale on a wonder...

Carbondale, PA - Pioneer Nights and Ethnic Heritage Festival

Carbondale Pioneer Nights - Ethnic Heritage Festival
Celebrating Our City's Rich Heritage

What?  Really?

Kudos, Carbondale on a wonderful idea, but since when did Carbondale's primary heritage belong to only the Italians (with a slight nod to the Russians)?  In doing just some brief research, and I do mean brief, one can easily find that the English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Germans had a much larger role in the establishment and growth of Carbondale.  The founders themselves, William and Maurice Wurts, are of German decent.  When visiting the pages of the Carbondale Historical Society, you will find the names of several prominent Carbondaleans, none of whom are Italian.  Not that the Italians do not have a place of prominence in the city, they absolutely do, but how can you label a festival as one celebrating ethnic heritage without including the others that played a more major role?

Some of the surname origins to which I am referring:

Astor - German/French
Avery - English
Cannon - Irish
Colville - Scottish
Cornell - German/French
Dickson - Scottish/Irish
Elbrecht - German
Halstead - English
Hendrick - Dutch/Scottish/English
Kenendy - Irish/Scottish
Levison - Jewish
Low - English/Scottish
May - English/German
McDonald - Scottish
Morgan - English/Scottish
Morton - English/Scottish
Powell - English/Welsh
Russell - English/Scottish/Irish
Taylor - English/Scottish
Ward - English
Wurts - German

I probably have more to say, actually I know I do, but I'm a little set aside right now.  Do you realize, also, that 5 out of the 6 Pioneer Nights committee members are of Irish, English or Scottish decent?  Perhaps Italian as well, but why were the other ethnic groups to whom we should pay homage forgotten?  All of those who turned this little coal-mining, railroad town into a city and called it home?  If you are going to label Pioneer Nights as an Ethnic Heritage Festival, you really do need to include more of the city's heritage; if you are going to highlight only one, then perhaps a separate festival is warranted, something like Carbondale's own La Festa Italiana.