ADN

Just out of curiousity, what is the single most life altering event you have ever experienced?

Please refrain from stating that you don't have one because "the culmination of all events in ones life is what constitutes change." I'm just looking for one, lol.

A moment, experience, revelation- that truly, deeply changed you for better or worse.

I've had a boring and safe life...no close to death situations and stuff.......but I got two that have changed me most was meeting two seperate people.

These may seem corny or what not....but thats your opinion on the matter..

First off...... Tyrone...everyone knows who this one is, as he created the forum I'm posting this information in. For years upon years I felt I had something that no one else did....I felt I possesed knowledge and experience beyond my years...and no one else even knew what that was like...I always felt alone and like no one could understand the way I felt or thought. Then through rapboard....and yadda yadda...we got to talkin on AIM one night...and he just made a lot of things clear in my life...and it just changed my perspective on things..I wasn't weird...I wasn't alone in thinking how I thought.... It made a huge impact. I don't really know the current state of our friendship in his eyes...but I still consider him a mentor and older brother...we fight and aruge to the bitter end...but I got a love for him that isn't gonna go away.


Secondly......I met the love of my life...Gwen Whitney Klemenz (I know we're young....but its real) She changed my life completely. I've matured a lot through this relationship...and I feel more comfortable than ever with myself and everything in my life. There is so much more I could say about you...but I'll save it for the next 90 years..I Love You

that;'s beautiful, LG...

moments like true love and mentors are real rites of passage.

own your own. don't working how unexciting it is.

for me, aside from any moment that put my life in danger... it would be:

When I found out no matter how smart I was (and i got case studies on my intellect) and how nimble (I got a bit of grace) and how fearless, I could not be a pilot because I was color blind (for twenty-six years). The first time I found out something true... you can not do everything in the world. so make what you do count.

when I realized you could do anything *you set your mind to*, and was diagnosed as not being color blind anymore. 26 years old. I offically cured myself four years ago, with meditation and focus...

both of these pale to the most recent:

when i first stepped in the ocean. that's when i finally got how ineffable nature is. I fell in love with her then and there. I found that one thing that ultimately reminds me of my lover... and that which she invokes in me. Ironically, I hate going to the beach, cause I see how people fuck up her majesty.

vertical,
raum

Yeah, I remember reading that and not really having my mind cleared to understand any of that post about you fixing your colorblindedness.....I'd like to hear more...not in this thread, it'd ruin it....but lets talk about that elsewhere...start a topic /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

I've always been a trusting guy and I guess sometimes that means people take advantage of me right off the bat (but they don't keep doing it, trust me), so when I discovered my wife of 19 years was cheating on me with my best friend, the two people I trusted most, it threw me for a loop. My inclination is to still trust people until they prove otherwise, but I'm much more reserved in how much I put myself out there for them to hurt me. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing... it just is. I'm not going to be a sucker for anyone again.

@ L.G...

That was nice well written, articulated, and exactly what I expect of you...You can worry that the status of our friendship has changed when I stop riding your ass, ya dig..? The love and friendship shared is mutual, tis why I am the way I am with you, you know better than that..! And will always be...One day, I will have to call on you, and you would need to be ready, I hope you can understand that...So, if I have to flame and grind within' these threads, so be it...But don't get it twisted, ever, down like a dump truck with 4 flats is the motto, please believe..!

My life changed when I met two people I consider great mentors, brothers, and friends, raum and x3n...I too was caught inbetween worlds, when I first met raum, and started to learn and understand the space that I was in...I was with him the first time I saw the Pacific ocean, on the beach, with the sun coming up behind us at day break...It was an amazing day, and time...Through many of his teachings, I have become a much better person...

And x3n...This forum would not be here without him...Over the past year we have forged what I think is a really great friendship, he is someone that I feel I can talk to about anything, he and raum both are wise beyond their years, and have been here with me seemingly forever...They add a professional grade to this forum that has become a great part of my life, that I have not seen anywhere else...

Without fail, my little light, Ra-El Seven...He and his mom are my life, what I live and fight for...Being able to take care of them is my greatest achievement...

Lastly, everyone here at ADN..! I know you guys call my bullshit, but it is true...I have bonded with nearly everyone here on some form or another...That is amazing to me...I have been able to be there for LG in some...Special moments....And that meant more to me than to him, I am sure...I have been able to be there for Luv through some really hard times...Lets just say, I have great frienships, and I thank God for allowing me to have this site everday...

** End long ass spill, CDR **

Changing my cultural environment three times and having to adjust and carry these changes to present day.

At 10, moving from Colombia, South America to Puerto Rico (which for North Americans might not seem like much change at all, but it was). It was 1982, and PR, priced US territory at the time wasn't welcoming "outsiders", especially not from Colombia. Having spent the previous 2 years without a father and a home, made this move seem very, very pleasant by comparison.

Going to College in the US, 1992. came back briefly second semester to watch my father die, headed back North. Art school did nothing for me ( I never saw it help anyone else either), being immersed in North American culture and thought for the whole stay, priceless.
*No kids, no welfare, no AA...if you were wondering.

Coming back again to PR, 1998, re-adjusting, re-assesing and all too ready to move again, not sure where.

All the changes i suffered are inside my brain.

To the eyes of the others i may not have changed since my life seems to be the same i always had.

Those changes were because of writers, philosophers and musicians that slighlty changed my way of thinking, but has more to do with the natural grow and education rather than a hidden truth revealed.

Knowing myself as i think i do, i have to say the only thing i can imagine that could change me is forming a family, thing that i'm not hurried at all cause i know that will happen without planning.

My single biggest life altering event happened to me....8 days ago.


On August 7, at 5:00 pm my mother asked me to take her off of life support. I did, and 5 hours later, she was gone.

I didn't think it was possible to experience every emotion in one day, but I have. Even though I knew, and still know, that this is what
needed to happen....I wasn't ready for her to go. It's hard to comprehend losing your mother and your best friend at the same time
and I would never wish it upon anyone else and would have never thought it was going to happen to me. It DID.

At this point, I still can't put this together and make it MAKE SENSE. Does the burning in the pit of my stomach ever go away? I don't cry,
never have, but I have cried enough for a lifetime this week and can't control it when it happens.....when does it stop?

Cherish what you have while you have it....

I love you mom.

RIM,

real, man. condolences. i have never asked for a sign of your strength, but that man.. not just doing it, but putting it in a public forum.

hit me with a pm if you need to. ANYTIME.


Prayers to your family and friends... and your self.

vertical,
raum