Alison Bodey – Rest in Peace my old friend

I have known Alison Bodey pretty much as long as I have been alive.  We were both Millerstown rats, I was born there and moved away when I was four.  She was born there (I am pretty sure) and stayed for a long time.  I moved back later when I was about 14 or 15, moved in with Granny in the purple house because I don’t think anyone could tolerate my dumbassedness.   We had a lot of great times back in the day, we liked each other, we hated each other and for a short time we loved each other.  She was killed Thursday morning in a single car accident with her daughter in the car.  Here is the article from the paper in Springfield. 

A St. Paris woman was killed early Thursday morning when she lost control of her vehicle and overturned on Zimmerman Road.

Alison Bumgardner, 47, was killed in a single-vehicle crash when her 1997 GMC van went off the west side of the road and overturned shortly before 7 a.m. in the 6000 block of Zimmerman Road in Mad River Twp. in Champaign County, said Matt Melvin, Champaign County sheriff.

A second woman, Cailtin Woodrum, 26, was a passenger in the vehicle and was taken by ambulance to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Urbana, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Bumgardner was headed south on Zimmerman Road when she lost control, and she was partially ejected from the driver’s side of the vehicle, Melvin said. Champaign County Coroner Josh Richards pronounced her dead at the scene.

Deputies are still investigating the crash, but it doesn’t appear that drugs or alcohol were involved. Some snow was on the road, but it’s not clear what role, if any, the weather might have played in the accident, Melvin said.

Neither Bumgardner nor Woodrum appeared to be wearing a seat belt during the crash, Melvin said.

Seems so sanitary, it is really weird for me to read that.  I Google earthed the 6000 block of Zimmerman road, which I have driven on hundreds of times.  I could not tell me exactly where that is, neither could Bing maps.  I rolled over my first very first car (1974 Vega) on Zimmerman road, close to Millerstown road.  I wonder how far she was away from that spot when she died?   Deputy Melvin’s report is so to the point, does not appear that drugs or alcohol were involved.  Not clear what role, if any, the weather might have played. 

This article is so flat, so devoid of emotion and feeling – it is the antithesis of who Alison Bodey was.  There is no mention of her likes, her loves and nothing of her life at all.  Nothing about the loves of her life, Kiara, Caitlin and Wyatt, there was also no mention of Pink Floyd, nothing about horses, nothing about her hobby’s, nothing about the pain she suffered with - nothing about her at all really – just that she was not wearing her fucking seatbelt, it was almost as if Deputy Melvin wrapped up her life with that worthless stupid little tidbit of information.  I don’t know him and I know he was just doing his job but you know what – I don’t care – I don’t like him for summing up my friends life with that ending statement – Fuck you Matt Melvin, Champaign County sheriff.

It is very hard for me to read that article, and even harder to talk about.  I have lost friends before, she is not the first but she is the closest friend I have lost.  I say closest, it almost seems weird to say but I am so glad we reconnected after all the years on FB without seeing or hearing from each other.  It was weird, almost as if no time had passed at all when we reconnected on Facebook.  I have written about her before on the oratory, I did not mention her by name but here is a link to that blog

http://mroatmealsoratories.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-sure-where-to-start-this-one-mr.html

I remember asking her if it was OK to blog about her post – her response, “I don't mind. Thanks for the prayers.  It’s the best thing going for me. :-) Faith, hope, prayer, and laughter.   I won't let it get the best of me.”  I remember she messaged me after I posted it – “I thought it was good, and I do see similarities in the writing. I prefer to call it rambling. And as far as anyone and the paths of their lives, it is simply amazing how little, insignificant (at the time) happenings (or things that didn't happen) can mold or shape us into decisions we make. I think the little things make more of an impact for the most part than some big things.”

We messaged a few times when her Dad got really sick last year, he passed November.  She shared her frustrations with her brothers handling of that, even before their dad passed.  I was mad at him for that, but as I told her losing parents has weird effects on folks, especially siblings.  I shared some of my own experiences from when I lost my Mom and Dad.  There are never any words that seem right at times like those though.  I told her all you can do is forgive, if you don’t it will erode your soul.  I hope she was able to forgive him before she died.              

I remember on one trip back to Ohio a few years ago I took lots of pictures, fall in Ohio is beautiful.  Anyway, one of the pictures I posted on FB was of her Dad’s cows.  DAMNIT, I miss my friend!  How is it that she was taken from us, she was one of the good ones!! She was always positive, always forging on, regardless of the obstacles.  How weird, I miss her a lot and a lot of people’s lives will have a gigantic hole that can never be filled.  I was looking though her pictures on FB and laughing, she was a very funny woman.  Her sarcastic wit was well honed, even back in the day.  I enjoyed those road trips up to Morehead Kentucky to see her when I was stationed in Norfolk in the 80’s. 

Here is the last message I got from Alison, this was December 2^nd 2012. 

Good afternoon now!! I am not doing too bad, all things considering. Starting to feel a little better.  At least I'm able to eat. I think most of the ulcers have disappeared finally. Although this medicine the dr put me on for the Crohn's has been making me very shaky, out of breath, and kinda agitated all the time. I've been back to work for a week now. And trying to go through stuff at Dad's when I have time. Still haven't spoken to my brother since the Memorial service. Oh well, if he wants to be that way, guess I don't have much of a say in it. Hope all is well with you. I laughed at the blue sky pic you posted. That was a good one. Wish it were blue here. It’s 55 but gray and rainy.

She used this picture a lot as her profile picture, I think it sums her up her life much better than Matt Melvin, Champaign County sheriff could ever do!

 

 

I will miss you old friend – love ya!!                                         

Ps. Sorry if this rambled more than normal – I am still a little freaked out!
                                           

5 people you would want to spend some time with, a weekend get away!

I saw this question on FB someplace where someone had asked what five people you would like to have come to a dinner party.  I thought, cool who would Mr. Oatmeal pick for that sort of thing.  I immediately went for Jesus, Muhammad and the Buddha but then I got to wondering, maybe those folks were not as popular and famous in their lifetimes as they are now.  Maybe they did not understand the impact of their lives so far into the future.  Maybe they were just normal guys that were just doing the right thing and some folks started following them.  I can’t imagine any of them had any idea what would come of their lives and the work they started.  I suppose that could be said about most figures we know from history, ancient or recent.  So, that lead me to start thinking about folks who at least seemed interesting or that I thought might be interesting in their own right.      
 

It has taken me a bit of pondering, there are so many that would be interesting to spend time with, at least in my opinion.

So here ya go.

Leonardo da Vinci – here was a man truly out of time, he was not of his age and if I believed – I say that he traveled back in time from some point in our not so distant future.   He was a genius in many areas as well – he was an inventor, engineer, architect, anatomist, scientist and philosopher.  He was a left brain kind of guy for sure.  BUT…………… He was also equally a right brainer - known for being a painter, musician, sculptor, architect, cartographer and writer.   Who else would have been able to conjure and create the famous “Mona Lisa” and the even more famous “The Last Supper”?   He is the quintessential definition of a Renaissance man.  He wrote the bulk of his notes backwards and in code, why?  What was he hiding or was he just messing with people heads, maybe he was also a comedian.  This is a man who snuck into graveyards at night to steal corpses and study human anatomy, to find out where the soul was.  I find him a complete and total dichotomy of his time.  I would love to have him spend some time on our age and then come to my weekend getaway.  I think it would be fascinating to get his “take on things” in today’s world.  Mostly I could just ask questions, I would be the annoying kid going why? why? why? 

Bill gates – I think he would be interesting not for what made him rich and famous but what he has done after he got rich and famous.   Here is a guy who can make an impact on world issues like no one has ever been able to do before him.  Think about the impact that $28,000,000,000 (28 Billion) dollars has had on our planet!  The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has been working on some of the planets worst problems.  Problems most isolated Americans do not even know exist.  He has probably singlehandedly saved more lives than anyone in history with The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization program alone, and that is one of thousands of initiatives they are working on.  I would love to get to know someone who has that grand of a vision, someone who has the ability to make that big of difference in so many lives.  From simple means this man has taken on the hardest problems on the planet, it easily makes building the most deployed operating system seem completely insignificant by comparison.  I would love to understand how he went from smart kid, to business tycoon to the world’s greatest philanthropist in one lifetime.         

Constantine the first – Like it or not, this is the person responsible for the popularization of the Christian religion.   Christianity was still a rag tag group of misfits when he became the Emperor or Rome.  It is well known that he was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, in 313 he and CoEmperor Licinius issued the Edit of Milan in which tolerance of all religions was proclaimed.   Most importantly he was a Roman and what were the Romans great at, organizing things.  They organized, armies, organizing empires, the organized building projects like no others and they (he) organized Christianity.  I would love to talk to him about how he selected the books of the Bible, what criteria was used for Mark getting in and the Odes of Solomon not getting in.  Did he envision what Roman Catholicism is today or did he envision something completely different?  What was it about the epistle of Barnabas that got it kicked out and what about John got that book in?  Could it have been John 3:16, which is, in my opinion, the key to the whole thing.  If you believe that God gave his only begotten son so that whichever of us believes in him will have eternal life.  It seems to me that if you believe that, you are in and if you don’t, there is no way you can get in.  From an organizational perspective I think it would be interesting to find out the why on how the Bible was assembled.  Why did the Old testament have an angry plague and pestilence God while the and the New Testament has a healing, forgiving and loving God – I think it was to make it all work, hard to sell the old testament.   

Mark Twain – I have always looked at Mark Twain as a quintessential American.  He was someone who had his finger on the pulse of America.  He also changed the way people wrote, before him writing was very formal.  When he came along he was able to inject a certain type of colloquialism writing (for lack of better words).  His Prince and the Pauper is a classic and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court I think showed the absurdities of political and societal norms, in Yankee by setting it in the court of King Arthur – how funny is that.  More than anything there was an everyman sort of down to earth common sense that came through in his writing, more so in the newspaper articles than his books I think though.  I would love for him to spend a year in our time and then come to my weekend getaway, he would no doubt be able to point out the absurdities of our day that surround and envelope us in a way that we do not even notice anymore.  He would be telling us about the elephant in the room, of that I have ZERO doubt! 

Michael Angelo – I have stared at the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and I have seen his Pietà, the sculpture he created when he was only 24 years old that depicts Mary holding Jesus after he was crucified.  It is probably the most moving piece of art I have ever laid eyes on.   He had many many famous commissions over his life but those two for me are the most incredible.  I feel they are incredible because they both moved me like no other art I had seen before or since.  I would love to ask him how he saw those things, how did he see Mary holding Jesus after his death inside that block of marble.  How did he see that incredible story he put on the ceiling before he got started.  My questions would not be about the magnificence of the work, which is unquestioned, but more about how did he see it, what inspired him and how was he able to take that vision and drive it through to completion.   For him, he just had a job, he was an artist doing his work.  There is absolutely no way that he could have known the impact of his work on the rest of the world.  If one were to have told Michael Angleo that in less than one year in 2010 over 500 million people were going to come to see his work he would have thought you crazy.  That was population of the planet when he was alive.  The first I ever heard of the Sistine Chapel was in the movie Ecstasy and agony, with Charlton Heston, and Rex Harrison.  I remember the part where Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) would constantly holler up to Michael Angelo on the scaffolding, “when will it be done”, and Michael Angelo (Charlton Heston) would yell down “when I am finished”.  I loved that movie. 

 

As I was pondering this blog and started writing it, I listened to a song called “Beer With Jesus” by Thomas Rhett, here are the lyrics and below that is a link to the video.

If I could have a beer with Jesus heaven knows I'd sip it nice and slow.  I'd try to pick a place that ain't too crowded or gladly go wherever he wants to go.  You can bet I'd order up a couple tall ones, tell the waitress put 'em on my tab.   I'd be sure to let him do the talkin', careful when I got the chance to ask how'd you turn the other cheek?  To save a sorry soul like me, do you hear the prayers I send.  What happens when life ends, and when you think you're comin' back again.  I'd tell everyone, but no one would believe it.  If I could have a beer with Jesus, If I could have a beer with Jesus I'd put my whole paycheck in that jukebox.  Fill it up with nothing but the good stuff, sit somewhere we couldn't see a clock.  Ask him how'd you turn the other cheek, to save a sorry soul like me.  Have you been there from the start, how'd you change a sinner's heart.  And is heaven really just beyond the stars.  I'd tell everyone, but no one would believe it.  If I could have a beer with Jesus, he can probably only stay, for just a couple rounds.  But I hope and pray he's stayin' till we shut the whole place down.  Ask him how'd you turn the other cheek to save a sorry soul like me.  What's on the other side?  Is mom and daddy alright?  And if it ain't no trouble tell them I said hi.  I'd tell everyone but no one would believe it If I could have a beer with Jesus.  I'd tell everyone but no one would believe it, If I could have a beer with Jesus.  http://www.cmt.com/videos/thomas-rhett/855115/beer-with-jesus.jhtml.  I suppose I feel that way

 
There are so many characters in history that I think would be interesting to spend time with but I have narrowed my list to these five, what are your thoughts on it