R U OK?

I’m super! Thanks for asking!…

We are all fine here. It’s the non-members I am concerned about.

My 17 yr old first born committed suicide over 11 years ago, a month before his 18th birthday. But not before taking the life of a 14 yr old female acquaintance.

Maybe one day being ok will become more of a normal thing, it’s still difficult, over a decade later. His note asked us to forget about him, move on with our lives. Yeah, right.

removed wtmi

This R U OK is a nice idea, encouraging people to communicate, stay close, offer support. Thank you for bringing it across the pond, perhaps it will catch on and go global, bringing us all together in a positive way. At the very least it reminds us to be Civil, everyone suffers from something and for some their burdens can seem unbearable.

:frowning:
So sad to hear Dale.

Feel for you DB, 3 years later still daily thoughts of my brother. Moving on is difficult but we have to deal with it. Keep your family and friends close. Folks came out of the woodwork to try and ease the pain. Gets easier but not much.

crz, can’t imagine losing a twin. That has to be especially painful. Hang in there, your brother has your back! :wink:

My daughter has told me of multiple occasions where she saw her brother in school, at her side during diversity. More than once, while meeting people at a new school he appeared beside her and warned her not to get to close to this one or that one, and she says it turns out he was invariably right, they would have been no good for her. She said it shook her up some at first, to see him standing there talking to her when she knew he couldn’t possibly really be there. But he or his image/spirit always gave her good advice so she learned to heed it. (He wasn’t so kind in life.)

To this day my daughter has that sensitivity to souls passed on, she avoids cemetery’s and hospitals, see’s the deceased waiting to see their loved ones. She even see’s them sitting in the graveyard when they drive by, any graveyard anywhere. For me, I don’t know if I could handle that, but she seems to take it in stride for the most part only sometimes there are sleep issues….

“Leave to others their otherness.”

” Hang in there, your brother has your back!”
Yeah he always did. We always did. I talk to him all the time.
It’s good your daughter listens, and heeds yours sons advice. Siblings seem to be the closest, as far as family goes. I know growing up, it always felt kinda like us against them, meaning parents….lol.
My bro is the “one” person I would’ve killed or died for. Don’t know why.
Hopefully their both in a better place.
It’s been awhile since, for both of us, but it never goes away. Never will I guess.
We’ll see them again….

He won’t recognize me, I’ll be OLD! :smiley:

Sorry to hear guys. They say time heals all wounds. How long it takes no body knows. I am always here to talk.

And that’s why I like BLF. Doesn’t have to be just about lights. Friendly folks here, unlike some other forums I’m a member of. Goes to show there are good people in the world. And they don’t have to actually even know you.
I do know my brother would probably want me to build him a Triple, once he saw the 2 I’ve done so far….I have his old MagLight AA which I’m going to do something with in memory of him.

Yea mate that sounds like a great idea you can get heaps of parts for the MagLight and you can get it engraved. Make it so bright so he can see the light while he’s watching over you.

The MagLight AA is scrumptious chopped to a single 14500 and with a triple Nichia 219B. :slight_smile:

Left to right… Solarforce L2M shorty, Chopped AA MiniMag Triple XP-G2 14500, Sinner Cypreus EDC 18350 Triple Nichia 219B, Macro Mag 14250 XP-G2 with tail clicky.

A fun build I did (didn’t keep it like this long, not sure why) was making an MT-G2 Muley chopped AA MiniMag. Used 2x14250 IMR cells. :smiley:

The above was long before I had a lathe. :wink:

Modified to a triple …

Some might ask how all these flashlight pictures have anything to do with an R U OK day…. you have to stay busy, one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, keep moving forward. Why do y’all think I do so many builds? :wink:

Have fun! :smiley:

(seems rather ironic, no? Me wishing fun? I live it people, the mention of the name Chad, a song, a thousand little reminders… it’s a day by day thing, sometimes minute to minute, stay here, stay strong, for those you love. C’est la vie. )

Man what a paradoxal topic this is.
So sad, saddening, harsh and bringing tears to my eyes.
So nice it is here and another proof of the special place BLF is

:beer: cheers people, to life!

and off to find that nice Belgian Kwak beer, the real glass has survived the move and I rarely use it, swiping some tears away this is a good moment for it
edit, cheers Kwak in proper glass lighted by modded SRK with diffuser and Astrolux S3 in front

I’ve lost my share, including my best friend of 23 years who was more brother to me than my own brother whom I love dearly. There is always a hole in the hearts left behind which never quite heals, but you learn to live with it somehow. I own my own life to someone who recognized the clinical depression I was diagnosed with and treated for. I was about one minute or less away from my own self-demise. I can’t explain it to you, there was and is no logic in it, no reason or cause for it but it was about to happen. That is how this disease is, and but for somebody caring and knowing I would not be here now. And were it not for one hell of a therapist showing me how to better handle my life I’d still be on meds for it. It’s not life-threatening any more but it’s always a problem for me. It’s my personal demon and I’ll be damned if it’s going to whip me. And many of you here have helped me through my bad days without ever knowing it. I appreciate that deeply.

Yes I care- I owe that to everybody. I’ll be here to listen and help anyone that I can. If I see someone having problems I’ll find out what I can do to help. I have to because I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve been through from both sides of this. So if there is anyone who is not OK, you’ve got a friend here, all you need to do is let me know you’d like to talk. Just you and me, nobody else will know anything.

Phil

Phil, I’m beginning to think nobody else knows anything anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

:smiley:

Thanks!

Interesting glass you got there….

Dale, I’ve lived an extremely varied and adventurous life. Unlike many folks, if I dreamed it, I made it happen. Now my only remaining dreams are so expensive I’ll never see them realized and that makes it hard to keep going on some days. But we go on anyway, knowing that the darkness will wane even if it never goes away. Maybe we just get more used to it. At least that’s something.

Phil

Thanks EDSG for bringing up such an important issue.

U ROK!

Thank you everydaysurvivalgear for posting this. I didn’t know there was a day devoted to this but what a great idea. I’ve lost a few friends along the way myself. Reaching out like this is an excellent idea. As was said, some people hide depression very well. A phone call or message out of the blue from an old friend or family member can be all it takes to give someone in a terrible place time to take a second look at such horribly dark thoughts ands see a ray of hope where there was none moments before.

Well done friend. Truly in BLF spirit. This is an excellent group of caring people. I speak from personal experience when I say that a person in pain can find comfort right here on this forum. I know I have…

Cheers.