Abigail's brother, Stephen Hingle

Abigail & Sam,

Please accept our condolences on the loss of your brother.

John & Marie

Abigail and Sam,
Sorry for your lost. You are in our prayers.

Joe

Dear Abigail and Sam,
So sorry to hear of the loss of Stephen, death is never an easy thing to confront and deal with-let alone accept; with a family member and especially a sibling it's even tougher. When my Mom passed away my Uncle (her baby brother) told me straight out that losing a sibling is the worst, far harder than a loss of even parents and he's lost all of the above. I never forgot that even though now he's gone too. I dread when it's my turn to lose my brothers or sister and cancer is big in my family and claimed many members-it lurks and scares the crap out of me!

I can't say I know your loss but I can say I can empathize with what you are going through at this time and in the future too. I watched my Mom lose her battle with cancer but was with her all along the way 150% and that makes the loss slightly easier knowing you did all you could even though you couldn't do what you wanted to most. It took many many years for me not to think about my Mom not being around anymore without great sadness; she was my best friend, confidant, and biggest fan and supporter of my work. She never got to see any of my works in metal but I suspect she sees it all too

One of the many sympathy cards I received gave and still gives me great comfort, something to the effect that your loved one didn’t just pass away, that they also lived and those are the memories that should also be present at such a difficult time. That's hard to remember when their passing is so fresh but it helped me out a lot to think about all that a loved one experiences in their Life and the family they shared it with.

Keep an eye out for little signs from Stephen; they do let you know they're ok at their own chosen time I had a dream one time with my Mom in it-one of a precious few. In it she had called me on the phone which was pretty startling even in my dream! Right away I asked her how she could be talking to me on the phone and she said “It’s a new program Honey but I can only call once and can’t talk for long.†Knowing I had to be quick and ask something pretty significant I said “Will I ever see you again†and her reply was “â€Just remember Honey, always do the right thing.†and then I woke up like a shot. I choose to believe it was more than just a dream; I would have her say of course I’d see her again but she left my own fate up to me and left me with some pretty darn good sage advice-just like she would have in life.

When my sister was getting ready to go to our Mom’s wake and preparing to leave the house to be on time she heard a voice in her head say “make an appointment with your doctor†which naturally she thought was odd and way out of place-her Dr. was the last thing on her mind naturally at such a horrible and dreaded moment. She said to herself I’ll do it later and right away a voice much stronger this time said “Do it now!†Long story short, she did make an appointment with her Dr. right then for the next week and as a result of her visit was diagnosed with Uterine and turned out early stage ovarian cancer-both which she very gratefully survived and is five years cancer free now. She swears it was Mom’s doing and I believe it without hesitation. Their bodies are gone but they’re not.
My uncle (who was a master plumber and electrician and gave me some of my welding tools, skills and great advice) messes with me in my shop on occasion. Anything electrical will have a mind of its own at times; lights I know I turned off will be back on again when I go back downstairs, Argon tank valves I purposely closed will be back open again a minute later, tools I just had laying on my bench will be somewhere else they’d never go on my own accord -stuff like that. Fortunately when I tell him to “knock it off Dickie, I’m trying to get some work done here†he does: and everything is as it’s supposed to be He was a real prankster in life and he’s still up to his old tricks now too.

All my best and most sincere condolences, take heart Stephen's up there pulling some strings when you’ll really need them most, and now it’s his turn to take care of you guys
Paul

Hello Everyone,
I want to thank you all for your warm thoughts and prayers during this especially difficult time. I've read all of the posts and they were all very comforting. I appreciate every one. When friends reach out to help, it is like being covered in a warm blanket.
Thank you so much,
Abigail