Christmas Letter 2007
By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III
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Christmas Letter 2007 By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III Dear Friends It is my custom at this time of year to celebrate with my friends by given them the gift of self. To share with you some of what the last year has brought for me. Most of you know the big event of my year and if I did not let you know when it happened I am sorry I did my best under the worst conditions imaginable. This year started out pretty normal. Linda was happy at
her new job and doing very well. She
was supposed to visit her family in In March I had a major set back in my recovery from my neurological problems. For several weeks I had to use a cane to get around because my left side was so week that I needed help balancing. I also lost much of the improvement I had made with facial control. Some of that has not come back. While I have made progress in other area’s. I do not know if I have regained control or simply learned to work around problem areas. But I am now able to sing. It is not any good but I can do it. On April 16th our friend Linda past away. For most of our married life Linda had been fighting a disease that she was so ashamed of that she would not let me tell you about it in these letters. I did mention that Linda spent 6 weeks in the hospital in 2003 fighting it. I have agonized over weather to tell you or not and have decided that our friends deserve the truth. Linda died of a drug addiction. I will not go into the details here. They are far too disgusting. I am working on a book about Linda’s life and our struggle. A few days after Linda’s passing I had my total body scan. They found no traces of the cancer. The blood work did come back with extremely high Thyroid anti bodies. This makes it likely that the neurological symptoms are being caused by a condition called Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy it is so rare that no one really knows how to treat it. My Doctors hope that if my stress levels go down the condition will simply go away. In May, I took Linda back to the Boreas for one last night. On a sunny morning I then deposited her ashes on the beach and let the tied take her out. This was in accordance with Linda’s wishes. As she washed away many of the people saw that her ashes turned in to a heart. I can see this in the photos but much more I see that she took on the shape of a Madonna. I loved her so much and I hope she has found peace and is finally with her mother how had died when Linda was 3. I have spent most of the rest of the year trying to rebuild my life. It took 5 car loads but I have finally taken all of Linda’s close to the good will. I now have a very strange monument to Linda set up in one of our (I mean my) Closets. There are 281 empty hangers. I have been back to the Boreas twice since Linda was deposited there. The 1st time I Found campers sitting on the spot were I deposited Linda. Young kids having a beach party. I think Linda would have liked that. The 2nd time was just before thanks giving. I took that time to work on the book I am writing about Linda, mental illness and drug addiction. If anyone is interested in volunteering I could use some people to read it and tell me what they think or help proof read it. I have also tried to spend my time reconnecting to me. I have lost almost 40lbs, I have gotten back to my writing, I am reading more and my house is almost clean. But I still miss her every day and all night long. I have been spending most of my free time writing not just about Linda but many other things. I hope to publish a lot in the coming year. If not through normal means at least on my home page www.teleport.com\~osh. I have just completed a poem about the first girl I ever loved and have posted it there. Well I hope next year will be a much better year then
this. I do not know if I will survive
it, if it is not. But all my life I
have been a I hope all of you find happiness and love. Please take Linda’s passing as a time to remember those who are importuned to you and express that love to them. And so as Tiny Tim said “God Bless us Every One” Love Odell |
Thank you for Surfing by. If you would like to write to me press = osh@teleport.com
Even on the NET I can't spell Tree, updated
06/29/08.