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Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 10-19-2002, 06:00 AM:
Here is an interesting thread idea. What is the worst moment in your life, yet you would never want to trade that moment for anything (this is a POSITIVE thread).
I get to go first.
Back in 1998 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I had horrible headaches that never went away, and got worse with time. When the catscan revealed that there was a tumor the size of a tennis ball, it was time to go in. What was worse I was also carrying a B strain of strep, and they could not operate until it was clear. I had a week to stew on this.
I got through it, the tumor benign. The recovery was long and hard, and to this day I still have trouble with my memory and motor functions to a small degree. But I am alive. I have never felt more alive, and I recieved a nice little warning, ENJOY YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU CAN!!!
The best part of it all, was that my ENTIRE family was too busy to even show up for the surgery, save one person, my older brother. He and I had a falling out a year or so earlier, and he so readily was there for me. During recovery, he read to me to keep me company. It is the single most precious memory I have, and I would never trade it for anything, ever. Well I would sell it for money, if the price was right.
Dave
Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-19-2002, 06:15 AM:
Dave,
I have never really had a worst moment yet as far as I know. Perhaps I'm fortunate, perhaps I also look at my lifes learning from a different perspective. But I have never been through what you've been through. I do suffer from hereditary depression which has caused me to crash(no, not in the car) a couple of times, but I keep telling myself that there are ALOT of people out there that are ALOT worse off than I am. If it starts to get the best of me I usually go up in the mountains on a hike. That cures me every time.
Mark
Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 10-19-2002, 06:49 AM:
Right now I am in the middle of splitting up with my long term girlfriend, we'd been together 7 years and lived together for the last 5. What she and I are going through right now is pretty unbearable, yet somehow we are managing to remain friends throughout. No screaming matches or throwing of crockery! There is nothing I won't do to keep that friendship, it's too easy to make enemies in this world.
Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-19-2002, 11:19 AM:
I don`t want this to sound cheesily philosophical, but I have had a lot of very bad experiences, but in the end, I wouldn`t want to miss any of them because they made me into who I am today. Well, that does sound pretty cheesy, but I think you know what I mean.
I agree with Mark that however bad times one may have had, there are always other people who have had an even harder life. For instance, I never had any serious disease, let alone cancer. But then look at this one woman in Washington who was wasted by the sniper, and she had just beaten cancer. That really got to me.
Since I am not at all religious in the classical sense, I do not believe in an after-life. Many people wouldn`t want to live through their lifes without such hope, but for me it`s OK, it makes me more determined to make it in this one life I have.
Michael
Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 10-19-2002, 09:12 PM:
That which does not kill us makes us stronger
Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 10-20-2002, 03:55 PM:
All the worst moments of my life - were my best learning experiences...............
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 10-21-2002, 09:31 PM:
Dave, I’m glad to hear you came through that OK. I think I can relate, to a small degree. Two years ago I had a cerebral hemorrhage – went from and afternoon nap to ICU in less than an hour. Short-term memory is toast and doesn’t seem to be improving. At this time, I’m building a second floor in my storage room and I spend half my time looking for the tools. (I don’t wear Carhartts because they’re in vogue. I wear them because they have many pockets for packing tools.) The worst part was the angiograms, accented by the four hours of not being able to move after. I pressed my recovery and was behind the counter of my theatre in a month. Ran the show alone in 6 weeks (While watching the scene in “The Majestic” when Martin Landau had his heart attack in the booth, his only comment was, “Damn, I missed the change-over.” -- my partner turned and asked, “Are you all like that?”). My vision went from 20/10 before the “event” to needing glasses to drive, but it seems to be getting back to normal. I see better without the specs and don’t need the peepers to see what gage of wire I’m using – never thought that would happen. I’m sure Dave, and many others, can relate to the other indignities that come with diminishment.
What I got out of it is my capacity to take shit went to about zero – makes life much easier. Went out and bought a new Harley after years of riding the “antique” motorcycles. If I have something I want to do, I’m doing it (Anyone know a good escort service in Las Vegas? Kidding!). This summer I’m riding across the country. Europe looks good in the Fall, if all goes well. I’m just not waiting anymore. I work at taking the lesson and leaving the guilt when I screw-up and I’ve become damned selective about who I spend my time with. Life is good, even if it’s a less than marvelous day, especially when you think you’ve seen your last.
Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 10-22-2002, 09:05 PM:
I can't particularly think of a single 'worst' moment. 
just happens, and it happens to all of us. If we learn from our mistakes, we don't tend to repeat them.
My daily affirmation: the meaning of life is to live it! 
Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 10-22-2002, 09:17 PM:
A few cute little tidbits....."Pressure makes diamonds"
"The end of the race is only the beginning"
State Cross Country is this Saturday. anyone else have any cool quotes or motivators?
Josh
Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-22-2002, 09:47 PM:
"Pressure makes diamonds" is a really good quote. I will steal that.
By the way, Pete, I hope you are aware that "what doesn`t kill us makes us stronger" is a motto used by the Nazis for the Hitler Youth organisation.
Posted by Daniel Boisson (Member # 1027) on 10-23-2002, 11:02 AM:
Since I'm absolutely perfect, I don't really have a worst moment.
j/k...
Actually, I had some rare blood vessel disease when i was little, Melenoma skin cancer 2 years ago, and have had lime disease for the past seveal years (still have) that have started to affect my nervous system slightly. Although those are probably the worst times in my life, I wouldn't trade them them back for anything. I'm able to sit back now and learn from everything, and be able to understand what other people are going through.Dave, how long did the headaches go on for before you found out the cause? I'm just curious about the amount of time it took to grow that large.
------------------
3% Body Fat. 1% Brain Activity.
...A projectionist without a theatre...
Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 10-23-2002, 02:29 PM:
I would have to say... as of now, the worst thing that's ever happened to me was my first wife. Not really her, but just the way she left back in 1993.I work as a Wedding DJ every weekend, and one Saturday night when I got home at about 1:30 a.m., I noticed here car wasn't in the garage. No big deal, she was probably over at her parents. Since I, like most people know where everything in my house is located, I felt no need to turn on the lights as I came up the stairs. Once I got inside, I took my tuxedo bag from over my shoulder and threw it on top of the washer and dryer like I always did. It hit the floor! I turned on the light to the utility room, to find my washer and dryer missing. I went into the kitchen to find all of the cabinet doors open, but stripped bare inside. I made my way through the house, and there was nothing.... no furniture anywhere. When I got back to our bedroom, I found all of my clothes lying in a pile in the floor of the bay window.
I called her cell phone... no answer. I called her parents... no answer. I called the police and the hospitals... no one knew of her.
Monday morning at work, I was called to the lobby at the office, where I was met by the county sherif... and promptly served with divorce papers.
No fights, no arguments, nothing... she just left.
We were together 14 months... and it took almost 16 to get the divorce finalized. Doesn't make sence that in Tennessee you can get married for as little as $35.00 for the license, but it cost me almost $40k to make her go away for good.
It was a very difficult time in my life, and the stress from it caused me to go from 211 lbs. down to 149 lbs. in about 6 months.
The NEW single life was good. Had more fun in those 4 years than I had in the previous 29 combined!!
I got remarried in 1997 to my lovely wife, and we have two adorable little boys I wouldn't trade anything in the world for. I'm stronger now because of it all, but I wouldn't want to go thru that again for anything.
The only thing I miss from those single days is my 29 inch waist. Well, I kinda miss the 19 year old college girls too.. 
------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee
Stardust Drive-In Theatre
Watertown, Tennessee
Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 10-23-2002, 05:29 PM:
Daniel,To answer you question of how long I had headaches (about two years), I have to give a short history of how it is believed to have started.
In late January of 1997, I was coming home from Snowbird Ski Resort, and lost control of my car in a snow storm. My car careened off the side of the mountian and tumbled for about 200 feet before it slammed into a small group of trees. Luckily for me, that group of trees, just wide enough to stop my car, stopped the car from plunging another thousand feet or so.
No one saw the accident. I waited in that car for an hour or so, and no one came. I had to dig and climb my way out. Luckily for me I had my seatbelt on.
During the crash, I hit my head twice in the front and snapped it back pretty hard, and that is where they believe the trauma occurred that started the tumor. Nothing came up after the initial injury, and something of this nature may have set it off.
I also separated both my shoulders during the crash, suffered a few bruises, concussion, cuts, etc. When I came out of the car, I fell into the trees and was able to snap my shoulders back into place. Then spend about 45 minutes climbing up the side of the mountian in the snow.
When I arrived back to the road, a bus stopped and asked me if I was ok. I said, "I crashed my car". He asked again and I just repeated my self. He then drove off. About half an hour later the sherrifs came and rescued me.
What is it with bus drivers? If you aren't at the bus stop they won't pick you up!
This is one thing that happened that I WOULD TRADE. It was really cold out there!
Dave
Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 10-23-2002, 06:36 PM:
No Micheal I wasn't aware of that. I doubt that the phrase was fist coined by the Hitler Youth, it's something that woulde have been uttered in many languages over the years. Actually round here we'd be more likely to say something along the lines of
' if it disnae kill ye it'll mak ye grow '
I just put it into plainer english rather than Scots as I'm told that the rest of the world sometimes has difficulty understand the Scottish dialect.
Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-23-2002, 09:06 PM:
You are probably right there, Pete. I don`t know either if the motto was first used in the 30s. However, it is a motto that is generally not used here because of its historical connotation. It may well be of a totally different origin since it obviously doesn`t have that association in English.