EARTHLY SPIRITUAL GOODBYE'S

There are times when I have a reafirmation in my beliefs that there is a God and that there are Guardian Angels that watch over us and guide us. A few years ago , a man , my wife and I would come in contact with , now and then at the Rail Road Dept. of Texas Utilities Generating power plat. I know we know him because of our job as contrators for Texas Utilities. But I'm sorry to say I can't recall his name, but then , our contacts with are short , where only the pleasantries of the day are exchanged. From what I have heard of this man , he was a good man , God fearing , easy going ,dependable ,respected and loved by his family. He drove a bull dozer for the Company, moving dirt around and doing what a bull dozer does. On his last extended seven day's off , he visited with each and every member of his family . With each visit , he made it one of bonding and love with each family member. Two day's after he returned to work , he was running his bulldozer , it was late at night. For some reason unkown he got to close to a deep pit full of water. His dozer got to close to the edge , he and his machine slipped over the edge. He died that night . His sudden death was a shock to his family and friends. He left them , his family , they knowing that he loved all of them . For some strange reason he said his good bye to all the week before. He didn't know the week before that he was going to die, but his Guardian Angel did. I beleive as other's do , that his Angel led him to say good bye to his loving family.

Another incident I know of personally . A young man who lived in my area , here in the country . We went to the same church, he was a good friend of my son , they both went to school together for 12 years and graudated together. Darrell Donaldson is his name. Darrell was one of my son's friend's that he buddied with, They hunted , camped and partied to gether, along with their other close friends. One of Darrell's loves was hunting and the great out doors. I remember one incident , my son and I were talking about. Darrell was on his way to school one morning , driving his landcruiser , beside him was his trusty forty four mag. single action pistole. Darrell happen to see a wolf in a pasture that he was driving by. He stopped his landcruiser rolled down the window and took a shot at the wolf. He missed. Darrell laid his pistole down on the on the seat beside him and it went off . It put a hole in the vehicles heater , the bullet then glanced off of the motor and out through the right fender blowing out the headlight on its exit. The lesson he learned from this , was not to cock the hammer until your ready to shoot. Another incedent my son told me , Darrell was driving along drinking a soda from a glass bottle. When he got done he threw it out the window , only trouble was the window was closed at the time. The window broke. My son recalled the time that he and Darrell went hunting in the White oak bottom, for wild hogs. It was New Years Eve. 1983 , The slept in the back of my sons El Camino , and in the morning over a breadfast by a camp fire , watched a beautiful sunrise.

Darrell had move on since that time and every now and then he would stop and visit with my wife and I . He had married , had two sons and a doughter. lived in Brady Texas at the time and was working for an Oil Company. Because of his love for the outdoors and hunting ,Darrell would take underprivilege children camping and teach them about nature. His love for the out doors helped him form , with another man a hunting guide service in Alaska. This worked out fine for Darrell . His Boss at the Oil Company found out about this service and had Darrell and his partner entertain customers of the Oil Company , to a guided hunt in Alaska. That was ten years ago. Five years ago Darrell's father died. and month after that his partner died in a plane crash in Alaska. On Dec 23rd of 2005 Darrell stopped by to see my wife and I. She wasn't home at the time , shopping. We had a long visit. in which I found out he had sold his guide service, and in the past few monts had to have brain surgery. He had a tumor on his brian. He said he was recuperating right now . He spoke of the many good times he has had at our home and how much he love us and his friend , my son Chris. And that he considered My wife and I his , second mother and father an honor to be sure. I asked Darrell what he was doing up here in this neck of the woods and his response was to see all of his family and tell them how much he loved them and how much they ment to his life. When he left he gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, and told me to tell Chris , his friend to call him or he would give him a good ole country boy whuppin. He left driving toward Mt. Vernon , waving goodbye , on his way to see another family member.

Darrell died on New Years Eve , the 31 of December. He is forever 43.

When I told my son about Darrell's death on New Years Eve , my son said that on that day he had watched a sunrise , and remembered the sunrise that he and Darrell watched by a campfire in White Oak buttom.

I beleive that Darrell's Guardian Angel led him to the one's that he loved , so he could say how much he loved them and unknown to him say goodbye. AN EARTHY AND SPIRITUAL GOODBYE.

God bless you Darrell , Where ever you are.

Your second mother and father

Bryan and Wally and your friend Chris.