"It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got the swing!"
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
~Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
~Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Our dear
friend, Armand Singer, has made his departure, leaving his body on Thursday,
July 12. It was an arduous week for family and friends, yet one that was filled
with love and generosity.
Tuesday was my birthday and amid the celebratory e-mails and phone calls, I learned that Armand had decided that his body had taken enough of a beating. He wanted all medical procedures to cease. The day then turned into a fine tuned picture of my life. Birth contrasted with death, and a bright future, layered over one that was dimming. I felt as though Armand was trying to tell me something by choosing the start of my new year, to declare his last. I wrote about it the next day in The Best Yet.
I lit the same candle that led me through Krista's birthing process, it was a birthing of another kind, after all. For the next two days I listened to some loud-big band-jazz as Armand listened to the same on his iPod. I imagined him dancing.
I wrote my first Where's Armand article in June of last year and in describing Armand said:
An Abraham-Hicks assessment on longevity recently said, "...intending for long life assures that you must be leading the parade; people don't start diminishing their life until they stop leading and start falling back into the ranks of the parade, trying to do what others are leading them to do."
Armand leads the parade. He sets the beat and goes for miles on end. He's had many opportunities to stop and take on a pedestrian role, but appears to pause for only a few minutes while he picks out a new beat and route.
As a new week unveils, I feel as though Armand has once again picked up the beat and drawn a new route. Memorials are being planned and stories are being told. Those of us who stood on the sidelines and watched him traipse through life, are sensing the beat. If we can fall into the rhythm, pick-up the pace and move forward with half the passion and vigor of Armand Singer, our lives, and the lives of those around us, would be so much richer. Imagine multitudes of people, leading their own parades yet holding high, banners that read "Where's Armand?"
He's somewhere way ahead waiting for us to pick up the beat. Snapping his fingers as he sings, "It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got the swing..."
Tuesday was my birthday and amid the celebratory e-mails and phone calls, I learned that Armand had decided that his body had taken enough of a beating. He wanted all medical procedures to cease. The day then turned into a fine tuned picture of my life. Birth contrasted with death, and a bright future, layered over one that was dimming. I felt as though Armand was trying to tell me something by choosing the start of my new year, to declare his last. I wrote about it the next day in The Best Yet.
I lit the same candle that led me through Krista's birthing process, it was a birthing of another kind, after all. For the next two days I listened to some loud-big band-jazz as Armand listened to the same on his iPod. I imagined him dancing.
I wrote my first Where's Armand article in June of last year and in describing Armand said:
An Abraham-Hicks assessment on longevity recently said, "...intending for long life assures that you must be leading the parade; people don't start diminishing their life until they stop leading and start falling back into the ranks of the parade, trying to do what others are leading them to do."
Armand leads the parade. He sets the beat and goes for miles on end. He's had many opportunities to stop and take on a pedestrian role, but appears to pause for only a few minutes while he picks out a new beat and route.
As a new week unveils, I feel as though Armand has once again picked up the beat and drawn a new route. Memorials are being planned and stories are being told. Those of us who stood on the sidelines and watched him traipse through life, are sensing the beat. If we can fall into the rhythm, pick-up the pace and move forward with half the passion and vigor of Armand Singer, our lives, and the lives of those around us, would be so much richer. Imagine multitudes of people, leading their own parades yet holding high, banners that read "Where's Armand?"
He's somewhere way ahead waiting for us to pick up the beat. Snapping his fingers as he sings, "It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got the swing..."
In his memory, play this song: It Don't Mean a Thing, a film clip of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra in 1943 (02:44). This is the kind of music that turned Armand on! He'd stop talking and start dancing.
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