Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday, where the focus is always on a piece of gratitude from my life, which for today is for a beautiful soul named Tim A. who was a member of my AA home group that recently passed away from a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
I didn’t know Tim very well, but he did make a big impact upon my life in a very short period of time, mostly for the fact that he was a constant fighter, having lived far beyond what the doctors originally gave him for a life expectancy. And even though the terminal disease that impaired so much of Tim’s everyday living during the last few years of his life constantly seemed to take a heavy toll upon daily stamina, he never stopped giving, caring, and doing his best to practice his recovery one day at a time, to the best of his ability.
Having lived myself in chronic pain for as long as I have, I admired this part of Tim and his extreme tenacity. Frankly, he inspired me to keep going and to not let any of my unfortunate circumstances get the best of me. While I never got the chance to develop a very deep connection with Tim while we were in group together, I still felt a closeness in my heart because of the smile he put on his face more than not.
Sometimes I really find it hard to smile with how I feel inside about my life and my ongoing health issues, yet Tim overcame way more pain than I have ever faced and he did it on a daily basis more than not along with a big smile at that! In fact, every time I greeted him with his customary fist bump, his smile felt so truly genuine that I felt he was carrying his heart and unconditional love on his sleeve for me, and everyone else for that matter, to appreciate.
Another thing I truly valued about Tim was the small extra gift he always put in the collection basket each week during our AA group as it was passed around, that being a few tootsie pops for the counter of the donated money to enjoy. On some level, this strange gift may seem inconsequential to most, but to me it showed a man who was consistently kind, considerate, and thoughtful more of others than himself, even on days where most others would have found it hard to keep going.
A truly humble soul that I wished I had gotten to know much better, Tim is someone I am very much grateful for even in the briefest of times our paths intersected. He will absolutely be missed in my life and I know from many others as well, each who most certainly have their own long lists of gratitude for a man who certainly touched the lives of countless souls while he was alive.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
