Tag Archives: sadness

Duct Tape to the Rescue

wikimediaimages - pic of duct tape gray color
Thank you, Mediaplayimages and Pixabay for letting me use this image of duct tape.

“Duct Tape to the Rescue” by Joan Y. Edwards

During the year before my late husband, Carl Edwards died, he alerted me of a special relationship he had with duct tape.
One day Carl fell in the garage, I heard him call me and went to see what had happened. I helped him up. He had a boo-boo on his arm. When we went to the bathroom to bandage it up, I reached for a bandaid to put on it. He said, “No, don’t put a bandaid on it. Bandaids come off. Use this duct tape on it.”
I looked at him. And I looked at the duct tape. I cringed and said, “But, Carl, won’t it hurt when you pull the duct tape off?” I had visions of the duct tape pulling his skin off with it when he went to remove it.
Carl looked at me and said, “Bandaids come off. Use the duct tape.”
So I used the duct tape. This time and other times. His same reply, “Use the duct tape.”
About a month after Carl died, (May God rest his soul), I went through his personal belongings including his wallets. He had one new wallet and one old wallet. When I opened the new wallet, his drivers license and credit cards and stuff didn’t draw my attention. However, when I opened his old wallet. It had an old driver’s license, a few business cards, positive thinking quotes, and above all else at the back, a  tattered compartment with duct tape to hold it together. I smiled. Even in his death, Carl could make me smile. Duct tape to his rescue! For Christmas gifts that year, I gave everyone in the family and our neighbors a roll of silver duct tape in memory of Carl.
Fast forward to a week before the third anniversary of Carl’s passing, August 31, 2023. I went through a few boxes finding things to share with his family and to decide which things to keep for me as a memory of Carl. Inside a box I found an old calculator and a new calculator. And ah, you guessed it. The old calculator was held together with duct tape. Duct tape to the rescue! Again, Carl had made me smile even though he was in heaven. It helped turn a moment of sadness into the joy of remembering how much he chose to make things last. Like love and fun!
I share this story with you in hopes of helping you to know it’s okay to cry when you miss a loved one who has passed away, but more importantly it is life-giving to you to smile when you remember them. Thank God for the time you got to spend with them. Use duct tape to paste the memories that make you smile at the top of your mind today.  Let duct tape come to your rescue!
Please share a memory of a deceased loved one that makes you smile.

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Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2009-2023 Joan Y. Edwards

 Flip Flap Floodle Firebird Book Award Winner Will this little duck’s song save him from Mr. Fox?

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Resources

Joan Y. Edwards. “How to Be a Good Listener and Stay Healthy”

Joan Y. Edwards. “The Many Faces of Grief”

Joan Y. Edwards. “Sadness Met Me at the Edge of Life and Death”

“Be the Love That Transforms Sadness into Joy!” by Joan Y. Edwards

Be the Love that Transforms Sadness into Joy
Be the Love That Transforms Sadness into Joy

“Be the Love That Transforms Sadness into Joy!” by Joan Y. Edwards

When death, illness, job loss, loneliness, or a failed dream fills your heart with sadness, you cry. You mourn. You weep. You pray.

Tears flow and fall down from your swollen puffy eyes. You are lost.

Family, friends, and strangers hear your cry. God says, “Be my ears. Hear the cries of my people. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Doctors, nurses, and priests look, observe, and witness. Be my eyes. See the needs of my people. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

UPS, FedEx, Amazon, Instacart, Uber, and postal services, be my feet. Deliver the needs and messages to my people. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Men, women, and children, write, cook, and sew. Be my hands. Be the healing touch for my people. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Firemen, and EMTs, smell. Be alert. Be my nose. Protect my people from fires and harmful chemicals in the air. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Scientists, doctors, and safety officials of food and drugs, taste. Be my tongue and alert my people of hazards to their health. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Men, women, and children, teach, share, educate, pray. Be my brain. Help my people focus on my word and what is truly important and keep their bodies and souls in balance with me their God. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy!

Men, women, and children sing, talk, smile. Be my lips and tell my people how much I love them. Be the love that transforms sadness into joy

God is amazing. He gives you ways to send and receive loving vibrations all over the world.

When you think of other people, your love radiates through the air and lands right in their hearts to lighten their load, to cheer them on, to help them to keep on going and never give up. It enables you to “Be the love that transforms sadness into joy.”

I invite you today to discover the gift of love God wants you to share with someone today. You have a unique gift that no one else has. “Be the love that transforms sadness into joy.”

Copyright © 2021 Joan Y. Edwards

Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Firebird Book Award Winner:

Flip Flap Floodle, a little duck with a flute:
Will Flip’s song save him from Mr. Fox?

Copyright © 2009-2021 Joan Y. Edwards

 

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