Intellectually I realize that ... I'll just need to succumb to the inevitable and let this process do its thing. ... Accept ... apparently, I'm just along for the ride.
To say this, to accept, in the face of ordinary obstacles is difficult; to live it through in the face of ordinary obstacles takes strength and courage. To say it in the face of life itself is great honesty. To live it in the face of life itself means, to me at least, the greatest courage and love a human can possibly achieve.
Pat, to share your difficulties as you have done is to keep us grounded in the reality of the struggle to live and grow. There is no use in high-flown words if they have no grounding. Your sharing has made my difficulties easier to bear.
We are just humans, prone to error, in impermanent bodies. To manifest eternity--the eternity of life, of reality, of the universe, of God, of love--from this position, is our challenge. Lugnut is doing his job, and what a job. I am immensely grateful.