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Saturday, August 8, 2009

REMEMBERING PUFF


Remember that old song,
PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON, LIVED BY THE SEA
Yesterday while walking, it is what I hear on IPOD.
Vivid memories come flooding back to the
first time I heard this song.
I was 5 years old at Touro hospital.
Every weekend people would come in to entertain
the sick children. That day a beautiful girl
comes with her guitar. It was a day
that I had been really sick but still I marched into
the activity room with my IV pole to hear
this beautiful girl sing.
She began with a few other songs that I had heard.
Then she begins singing,
Puff the Magic Dragon....
I immediately related to the story...
As an adult I now understand that the whole
story is about a boy, Jackie and his imaginary friend.
Eventually Jackie grows up and forgets about his friend, Puff.
However for a 5 year old who is fighting for her life,
it had a different meaning.
I can't remember anyone telling me I was going to die.
Inside myself, I realized that I was dying or was so sick that I wanted to.
So when I heard ol' Puff this is what I believed.
This beautiful woman had come to prepare us for death.
When the song says:
DRAGONS LIVE FOREVER BUT NOT SO LITTLE BOYS
I was being told that I probably would die but it
would be okay, Jackie was okay so I would be also.
I was comforted by the song and growing up it always
meant something different to me.
Now I understand that Jackie grew up, he didn't die
but it was many years before I understood this.
So, today, on my 46th birthday,
I, too, have grown up in some ways
but in other ways I will always be a child.
Happy to frolic in the land...
I plan on living forever, if not in body then
for sure in the hearts of many,
Just like PUFF!

6 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday, Lil!

    We love you so much and thank God that you are in our lives as well as our hearts! You were meant to live and to touch the lives of many people. You make such a positive difference in our lives! Enjoy your day!

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  2. Like I told you the other day, you always know the right words to say!!! I too have many great memories of that song as a child, and still cry everytime I hear it. It is one of my favorite songs. I have related to it in so many ways. I too thought, as a child I was like Jackie. Thanks for the great cry this morning!!!
    I WILL ALWAYS LOVE AND REMEMBER YOUR GREAT WORDS OF WISDOM!

    HAPPY 46TH BIRTHDAY!! WISHING YOU MANY, MANY, MANY MORE TO COME!

    LOVE YOU,
    Tie

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  3. YES, I REMEMBER GOING TO A COUPLE OF THESE IN THE ACTIVITY ROOM. I ALSO REMEMBER DOING MAYBE SOME FINGER PAINTING OR DRAWINGS IN THAT ROOM WITH YOU. FUN TIME FOR MANY VERY SICK KIDS.

    AS I ALWAYS SAY, THERE IS A WRITTEN TIME TO BE BORN AND A WRITTEN TIME TO LEAVE THIS LIFE AND NOBODY CAN CHANGE EITHER OF THESE DATES. SO YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED FOR EACH DAY TO BE YOUR LAST. AS FOR ME, IF TODAY IS MY TIME ON THE BOOKS TO LEAVE THIS LIFE, I AM PREPARED. IF ANYONE WAS TO DIE YOU WERE SICK ENOUGH TO LEAVE US AT A YOUNG AGE OF 5 BUT YOU STILL HAD THINGS THAT GOD WANTED YOU TO DO. AND 41 YEARS LATER I THINK YOU ARE ACOMPLISHING THESE THINGS.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIL! WE WISH YOU MANY MORE!

    L U,
    GRANNY

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  4. hey, what happened to calling me LILLY THE GREAT!!!!
    Ya'll are supposed to be practicing!!!!

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  5. Hi Lilly and Happy Birthday again.

    ----- Although you have accomplished some amazing and great things in your life and I know you will do even more great things in the future and I will even add that I know you will deeply affect many people’s lives for many years after you’ve left this world, I just cannot get used to calling you “Lilly The Great.” It just doesn’t fit you and its too D _ _ N long. So I think all of us should come up with some other ideas about what to call who what. (WHAT EVER!!) Know what I mean ??

    ----- Well here is my idea / ideas. Sense Baby Lillian is the littlest and her name is Lillian, we should call her, Lil Lil. Or if you wanted to go along with Daddy’s family nick names like, Dee Dee, Ma Ma, Goul Goul, Ta Ta, etc., then you could take the name Lil Lil. What ya’ll think ??

    ----- Later,
    ------- L-U-A,
    ----------- Peter

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  6. P.S.----- I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble but I was always under the impression that the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” was about drugs. Jackie does die,,, of a drug over dose and Puff was his supplier who lives on forever because there will always be a drug dealer around,,, like Puff to addict other young boys. Every thing else in the song is Jackie’s hallucinations from the drugs.

    ----- As Ronnie would say, “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

    --- L-U-A,
    -----Later,
    -------- Peter

    ReplyDelete