Love Ya, Sue-Bob

February 23rd, 2007 at 12:11 pm by Mark
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Susan Alice Shelley - 12/02/1964 - 02/21/2007

Susan Alice Shelley – 12/2/1964 – 2/21/2007

People living deeply have no fear of death.
— Anais Nin

     Just forty-eight hours ago, I was sitting down to write about what great friends I have.  Mere moments after writing, “Pirates never die,” I received a phone call which showed that the world had decided to see just how much I really believed that.

     She was there one minute, laughing with us like no tomorrow.

     And then she wasn’t.

     We’d met before, briefly, some fifteen years ago.  We knew the same towns, some of the same people.  And when she showed up again last year, it was all so familiar … hard and fast friends, an instant sister, that crazy gypsy, that Wicked Wench.
     It was only natural that I wrote her a testimonial a few months ago:

She’s an incredibly talented artist with a death-lock stranglehold on the eclectic. She’s all fun, all the time, complete with an infectious laugh that can change the mood of an entire bar!

     For those of us who’ve been around her, all we have to do is remember how she she lived: Like there’s no tomorrow.  Nothing left unsaid.  Nothing left undone.  No regrets.

     Laughing at every damn thing — like a bunch of kids with attention deficit disorder — certainly has its benefits.  I remember taking her out for her birthday that night with Niki, going to Market Square…

     Oooh, Kitty!

     (Maybe it’s Susan *grin* Besides, it’s only a 24-Bar Break)


Robinhood: Free Stocks for your Referrals!

8 Responses to “Love Ya, Sue-Bob”

  1. Mark Says:

    Was fine ’til just now
    All that said and done
    I’m listening to this album too much
    Been here, done this before
    But … good times, good times

  2. Mark Says:

    The hole in my life is full
    of laughter and fond memories
    which make me laugh and smile
    every time I look into it.
    But knowing that hole is there…
    still stings.
    I love ya, and certainly miss ya,
    but I’ll keep on keeping it light.

  3. Sweet Pirate Diva Says:

    There is nothing easy about losing a beautiful friend. When I got home Wednesday afternoon, I walked straight into my bedroom where hangs a multi-photo frame full of memories that we girls had made. THE PIRATE FRAME. My pride and joy, sometimes what gets me through the day.
    I stood there with no feeling. Well I don’t know… maybe numb is a feeling.

    Anyway, there she is. Front and center in the frame, smiling at me.
    I couldn’t smile back.
    I didn’t want to smile back. I was really upset and mad and confused and full of questions…WHY????
    I got a lump in my throat and had to walk away.

    Then Niki asked me to do a slide show. God, I can’t explain (and don’t have to because you all had the same gut wrenching going on) how torn into knots my stomach was looking through all those pictures.

    But I realized what she is and what she brought to us. All of a sudden, while I was mixing pictures with the words that describe SUSAN, I felt a calm. Then I started to arrange those pictures. Analyzing every single one of them. What Susan brought to us was an overwhelming since of JOY, HAPPINESS, NEVERENDING SMILES.
    Picture by picture, I started to smile back at her.

    I can walk in my bedroom again and look at her and smile. Her warm hugs and her voice calling me “baby” will be in my ears and in my heart forever.

    Now every time I see any kind of musical break, I can hear it in my mind.
    What a woman! What a pirate!

  4. Mark Says:

    I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge — myth is more potent than history — dreams are more powerful than facts — hope always triumphs over experience — laughter is the cure for grief — love is stronger than death.
    — Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

  5. Mark Says:

    I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.
    — Gilda Radner

  6. Pirate Princess Niki Says:

    Susie Q’s death was sudden, but far from tragic. The tragedy would have been in never having known her. We are all better people because she was in our lives. I can’t remember a time when she wasn’t there. There may have been things undone, but definitely nothing unsaid. If Susan were here, she would say, “I have the best friends…” Well, that and “I AM AN ASSHOLE BLEACHER!” Hahaha God, I miss her…

    Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
    Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
    Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
    Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
    Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
    Scribbling on the sky the message, “She is dead,”
    Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
    Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
    She was my North, my South, my East and West,
    My working week and my Sunday rest,
    My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
    I thought that friendship would last for ever: I was wrong.
    The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
    Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
    Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
    For nothing now can ever come to any good.

    W. H. Auden

  7. Jewels Says:

    Vibrance, charisma, passion, strength of character, depth of soul… compared to Susan, it seems like the rest of us are sleeping, not her.

  8. Zacque Says:

    I was fine until now… Some two months later… I can’t help but to write a tear stained letter… I miss you dearly. I leave Lifetouch on Saturday and will be relocating to Nashville. Guess you were right about the whole thing.

    What is firmly established cannot be uprooted.
    What is firmly grasped cannot slip away.
    It will be honoured from generation to generation.

    Cultivate Virtue in yourself,
    And Virtue will be real.
    Cultivate it in the family,
    And Virtue will abound.
    Cultivate it in the village,
    And Virtue will grow.
    Cultivate it in the nation,
    And Virtue will be abundant.
    Cultivate it in the universe,
    And Virtue will be everywhere.

    Therefore look at the body as body;
    Look at the family as family;
    Look at the village as village;
    Look at the nation as nation;
    Look at the universe as universe.

    How do I know the universe is like this?
    By looking
    –Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching Chapter 54