Hello everyone - someone asked me the other if there are any songs that remind of Dude. This song wasn't particular to us but it mirrors my thoughts.
Please listen to the words.
Have a great weekend everyone. It's suppose to be beautiful out.
Love to all.
Moing
Mrs. Dude

A rainy Monday tune for you

Not sure how this one will make you feel but it's been going through my head a lot lately...



- I miss you all and hope to see you soon. Moing. (forgive the indulgence) Much Love, 'nik

Hi all - it's Monday and we all survived another weekend without our Dude even though it was hard at times. For all those who didn't make it to the Tribute on Saturday night, I will post the video when they give it to me. It was very nice and went well. We had a good time and drank lots of VO and Ginger. Jon Allen said he should have ordered more. :-)

How are June weekends for everyone? I would like to clean out the sheds and garage. I need to get a dumpster. I know guys golf weekend is the 24th so how about June 12th? I will also send an e-mail so everyone can read.

Thanks and have a good week,
Mrs. Dude

Fridays

Hi all - I am beginning to HATE Fridays. I think Nik said the same thing. On the ride into work I relived March 26th again in my head like it was that day. I keep seeing George lying on the bathroom floor looking very peaceful and being very cold. Me calling 911, doing CPR, and the cops arriving to pronounce him dead. Before the cops get there, I keep telling George to wake up. 911 keeps having me do CPR but I know it's too late. I just wish with all my heart I was there when it happened.

I am in horrible mood. I am very short with everyone. Thank goodness it is a short day for me. I leave at 2:00 and then I go home and pick up the Lilly Dog, go pick up my Mother and then we are going to Dan and Ann's for steaks and cards. I hope this brighten's my mood.

Love,
Mrs. Dude

~On Friendship~ from 'The Prophet' - by Kahlil Gibran

'And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."

Your friend is your needs answered.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."

And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;

For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.

For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.'

- something I wanted to recite in the church but didn't for various reasons - Chris

I'll Be Near You - Ivy (w/Dar's Observations)

I came home the day after Dude’s services physically and emotionally exhausted. I started watching a movie channel to veg out. I put the TV on pause and drifted to sleep. After a given time, after pausing a movie, our dish will time out and start broadcasting again. The movie started again, played through to the end and started the credits. I was asleep for over 4 hours through various active scenes. (I sleep like a rock). This beautiful song is what woke me. I think it's a song to all of us.



Observation #1: Dude, if it was him, now has a calming, comforting female voice.

Observation #2: Naults aren’t tone deaf in heaven!



Love you all, Darla

Ron's Remembrances of Dude

To live is, also, to die. We get that. But we struggle to understand why George was taken from us so early without warning. Our Son – our little brother – our friend. We take comfort in knowing that Dude lived Gloriously and Generously-without the normal human frailties of selfishness, anger, or greed.

He loved each and every person and moment that he came upon, and people loved him back. Oh how he was loved. He lies in peace knowing that there is no one left behind who can have a bad thought or a cross word about their encounters with Dude. What a gift, a lesson for all of us. Treat every person with respect-and really love, I mean really love those close to you.

Into each life a little rain must fall, as the saying goes. Forgive us for being upset, but it is thunderstorming right now in the Nault & Walker families – and those who loved Dude. Find comfort in the depth of your grief, for it shows only how much you let yourself love another human being. God is crying too. Do you think it was a coincidence that yesterday was such a miserable day? Our Catholic faith tells us to take comfort that he is peaceful in the kingdom of heaven with our Mom, Grandparents & other family and friends – and that he is doing great. But it is us who are NOT okay. We wanted more time with him.

As difficult as it is for us mere mortals, don’t be angry or bitter.

We are here to celebrate the 40 beautiful years that George walked the Earth, smiling, helping, working his magic and loving each of us.

Start with Georgie, the kid with the big head at my parents’ Grocery store, the math whiz, greeting each customer with a smile, who knew the total grocery bill, with tax, before the register drawer even opened. Then growing into the Dude, a friend to everyone. Becoming an adult, finding his way, helping others, making lasting friendships, becoming an Uncle, Godfather and finally meeting Lisa-the love of his life, a Husband.

As his family, we are so proud of the way he lived his life - to be so universally liked by all and loved by those who got to know him. A true example of Rich in Spirit-he lived the principles that you are your brother’s keeper, and sisters, parents, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Dude took care of everyone.

Dude’s happy place was being busy, helping others. And boy did we all keep him plenty happy. It wasn’t that Dude couldn’t say no-he didn’t want to. How many of us have a piece of Dude around their house – a deck, porch, shed or finish4ed basement. Smile when you find yourself using it. Dude the Fixer, the Builder, the Protector. In addition to the tangible project-you also got the Dude: happy, smiling, fun to be around.

There was nothing like getting a hug from Dude. You knew he was sincerely glad to see you.

There are so many memories that we cherish:

He and Lisa made Michelle & Tom’s twins homemade raspberry jelly. They still refer to it: We want some uncle dude jelly.

Golf vacations in Florida and Vermont - surprising my Dad in Florida when Dude didn’t think he could go one year.

Crabfests and Dudefests

Hearing the joyful squeal from my little kids “Duuuuude” as he walked through the door meant that the family fun was about to begin.

Redskins rare Super Bowl successes.

Dude playing a hunch, grabbing my mom and going to the casino. Giving her his paycheck-$1000 to play the field bet on the 3rd roll at the craps table, it comes up box cars- paying 2 to 1. They grabbed their $3000 and headed home to celebrate. If Dude won big everyone benefitted. If George had 3 of something, it meant you were welcome to 2 of them-or all 3 if you really wanted.

George as Drew Carey and The Incredible Hulk at Dar & Monty’s Halloween Parties.

Speaking of the Incredible Hulk, Dude was the strongest man alive. When we were building our house in VT, Mark Gambardella and I were trying to move a big boulder. We had 2 x 4’s and steel pipe trying to rig some sort of lever system. Dude came walking up the hill form his house, saw what we were doing, picked up the rock like it was a basket of laundry and asked “what else you got”. Dude was that rare combination of the strongest man alive as well as the nicest.

Summary

George’s spirit lives on to protect us and guide us and watch over us. Use Dude’s memory to live our lives with better focus on what is important. Following George’s examples, respecting the 10 Commandments, think of “What Would Dude Do?” when life presents you with a quandary. The answers will be:

Go with your heart, not your wallet
Think of others before yourself
Give love, accept love
Use your strength to stand up for the weakest amongst us
Treat all people with respect.
Don’t take the easy way out-if it is not the best way also

As we have been reminded by Fr. O’Neill, live life respecting its uncertainty. Treat your relationships with family and friends as a gift. Don’t end on a cross word-and show that you love them above all else, and often. George got this message better than any of us. Everyone here should know that Dude knew how much we all loved him back. He took strength from this.

Happy are those who are called to His Supper. And oh what a banquet George and our Mom are helping to prepare in heaven. Save us a seat.

Dude - WE WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

AMEN.

Hey all - this is my first day all by myself and I'm doing Ok. I broke down all the flower arrangements and made a beautiful dried flower basket. Once I download the picture of it, I will share.
Dar & Meesh - are there any extras of the laminated cards left with George's picture on it? I just have the one in my wallet. I have extras of the fall ones but not any of the others.
Dar - didn't you say you were getting more done?
We had Ann's 50th Birthday party last night and George was sorely missed.

I forgot to share with everyone one of my experiences I had. It was about a week ago and I was sleeping. I suddenly woke up and saw a large shadow over me. At first I was scared and then I calmed down and went right back to sleep not scared anymore.

Another experience is that during the first week when everyone was here, something was telling me to check the oil for our house. I never even thought about the oil until this time. Doug checked it for me and we were down to 1/8 of tank with only 40 gallons left. George is still taking care of our house.
My first thought was to sell the house because I couldn't afford it but now that I have had some time, I will try everything I can to keep this house that we love. I feel at comfortable here and I love OUR house.
My nephew Chris is moving in next Sunday and he will help. Our neighbor Peter is helping with the yard. Our family is helping financially and I cannot THANK them enough.
I LOVE reading everyone's thoughts so please keep up this blog.
Thank you and love to all,
Mrs. Dude

E-mail thoughts

Larry Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 15:47:47 -0400

Ok, I have to tell you guys what happened to me today, or should I
say is happening. This has been so tough on all of us, and our emotions
and feeling have gone haywire out of control. One of the emotions I had
was not anger, but confusion that has I guess been making me angry, I find
myself cursing out loud under my breath, and not knowing what to do, or
where to go, but (yea I know try to follow along), not really knowing why I
felt like I have to do anything. Ok, so when I woke up this morning my whole
body was tingling, hard to explain, but it has been like this all day, and
the first thought that came into my head was, "Dude made it into heaven
today, he knew what he had to do, didn't want to, you know leaving us down here,
but for lack of any better explanation, he went to the light, and now
instead of watching with us, he is watching over us. I know it sounds crazy
but with all my heart and sole this is what I believe, and this is how I
feel! I still have a hard time controlling the emotions and all, but I have
this incredible, awesome feeling that Dude is at peace, happy and
comfortable in heaven. As I type this all my Velcro is standing on end, a little
sweat out the eyes and all that jazz.

Guys, I love all of you and I just wanted to share a little of what
was going on in my life today, maybe you guys are feeling the same
thing?
On another note, I forgot my cell phone at work, so I have none of
your numbers till tomorrow.

I love you all and we will be in touch.
Love
Bone

Scott Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 3:58 PM,

A little anger and a lot of love. I know what you mean about not
knowing what to do with my emotions, maybe a little zanex or something. I
have been ready to punch someone over nothing for about 30 hours now. But
this too shall pass. I hope so because I really don't need my ass kicked on
top of all of this. Not without Dude to stand up for me. Tonight is my
first night back in the saddle. I will smile instead of cry tonight
imagining him barrelling around the office as if on the bridge of the USS Dude
during battle at sea. I sure do miss him but am really glad you are all
there too.
Love you all,
Kid



Chris Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:26:09 -0400

Bone - that is the exact thing I was trying to say at the church on
Wednesday!

And a weird thing has happened here at the house. I helped Dude redo
my master bath a few years ago (notice - I helped him, not the other
way around). We never got around to completing everything we wanted to
do and talked often of finishing it.

Usually Memorial Day weekend would be the time, but this year I made a
promise to everyone about not working because we did so much last year
(Barn doors, fence, slate patio & odds and ends).

Anyway, since then I have put in a new light fixture and I think Dude
was letting me know he would have liked to do it himself. Last
Thursday one of the lights was not working and I figured it was the

bulb, even though it's a fluorescent and should be lasting another 2-3
years. When we got back yesterday, the light was working again. When
Shannon was in the shower and got out it wasn't. When I went in, it was.

Say what you will, I think Dude is with us, in us and around us and we
just need to know where to look and feel for him.

much love to all,
'nik

Darlene Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 11:27 PM

Hi, Meesh forwarded this to me. I added Lisa, Ron and Monty. Thanks
for including us.

Really cool. We were also saying that we feel so much more peaceful
today. It still feels very sad but just more peaceful.

Dad, Meesh and I spent a beautiful afternoon picking crabs and telling
stories with Lisa in Woodbury. Dad and Meesh took off and I spent the rest
of the afternoon with Lisa and the Lisa Chicks looking at pictures and
telling more stories. Lisa received a package that contained a set of wind
chimes with a poem about "Whispers From Heaven" when the wind blows through
the chimes.





Whispers from Heaven
When I left this world without you
I know it made you blue.
Your tears fell so freely, I watched: I know this is true.
While you were weeping,
Days after I passed away --
While all was silent within me,
I saw you kneel to pray.
From this wonderful place called heaven
Where all my pain is gone,
I send a gentle breeze to whisper,
"My loved ones, please go on."
The peace that I have found here
Goes far beyond compare.
No rain, no clouds, no suffering --
Just LOVE from everywhere.
You need not be troubled
Just stay close to GOD in prayer
Someday we'll be reunited
My love, HIS love surrounds you always,

EVERYWHERE

She hadn't hung the new chimes yet, but, as you know, there are many
pretty chimes on their back porch. I was asking again about how Dude and
Lisa met, how Dude proposed, their honeymoon cruise .... The conversation
led (not by me!) to, yes, you guessed it, their sex life. THE CHIMES WENT
NUTS.


Love, Dar

Lisa Apr 4, 2010 6:21pm

Hi everyone - my gmail doesn't work at home so I am my brother's and
finally got to read and watch all this.

I think I think he is on vacation somewhere. Everyone keeps saying I am
so strong but I'm really not. I don't know what I am going to do without
him as I'm crying writing this.

I am going to miss talking to him 2 or 3 times a day with him answering
or yelling actually "What up woman?"
I am going to miss his smile.
His sense of humor.
His considerateness.
His politeness.

His kindness.
His thoughtfulness.
His warmth.
His playfulness.
His hugs.
His kisses.

I keep asking myself is he really gone? He can't be. We had so much
time more to do. He wanted to touch all 7 continents and all 50 states. He
was close with the states and touched 5 out of 7 continents. Austrailia was
our next stop. I told him Antarctica would be tough unless we won the
lottery or he could hitch a ride with someone because it's expensive to go
there.


It's very comforting reading all this and know that we are all going
through the same thing.
I love the video that is attached - THANK YOU!

I am going to go now and be with my family but I will check in tomorrow.


Love to all,
Mrs. Dude

Chris Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 12:07 PM

Hello everyone -

Lisa - I want to say that reading your email really moved me. I think I
can speak for everyone here when I say that you shouldn't think for a moment
that your vulnerability isn't palpably felt by all. And we all hope you will
lean on us for support as much as needed. We certainly will need each other
in the days, weeks, months and even years to come.

So here it is Monday morning and the first day that most of us are back to
real life. Please keep the thread going and continue to share. I would like
to open up a blog page with pictures, stories and linked videos if no one
has any objections. Something we can all moderate and add to as a more
intimate digital memorial that we collaborate on as we see fit. Please let
me know whether that's OK or even interesting to y'all...

much love,
'nik

Lisa Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Hey Chris - the Blog sounds wonderful. This way if we come across something
in the future like video, pictures, notes, etc, we can post for everyone to
see. OR all this e-mailing back and forth will be on his blog.

Yeah this morning was not my best morning. Reality is setting in slowly. I
almost didin't come to work but I had to try and see if work would help.

I am back to work and it is helping. The people here are great.

I had saved a bunch of messages on our home voicemail of Dude yelling Woman!
but someone erased them the night of his 40th. :-(
Thank goodness I saved one at work that I can listen to when I need to hear
his voice.

I haven't washed his clothes yet and can't bring myself to do it. His glass
of water is still on his night stand. The Pepcid AC that he held right
before he died is on my nightstand. I haven't been able to throw it out.

The only way Lilly will go to sleep with me is if she has George's worn
clothes to snuggle. It was our ritual almost every night that all three of
us would go to bed together. I think she is still waiting for him to come
to bed.

Going back to work now.

Love,
Mrs. Dude

Meesh On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 9:55 AM

Hi Gang,
Ok, I'm finally in on this.
Chris, I tried to "paste" in all of the e-mail chains to the blog so that we can have it all in one place, but it wouldn't let me do it. Any pointers?
It is Friday again : (
I have taken the day off from school because I am just plain worn out.
This seems to be getting harder and more painful as the fog seems to clear and the true reality is seeping in.
I miss MY DUDE!
OK, my Dude story that Chris referred to earlier is this:
Tuesday, before the services, I was sitting at the the kitchen table with my Father, and we were both crying.
I looked up for a second and something caught my eye in the far doorway of the entrance to the living.
It is the doorway that I have hung light sets for my kids to celebrate every occasion imaginable since we have moved in with my Dad.
There have been Christmas, Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day (Our Mom's Birthday, by the way), flip-flop lights for Summer etc. You get the idea.
I was just preparing to hang the Easter egg lights when we received the news about Dude.
Anyway, I was at the kitchen table crying, and looked up to see this faint glimmer of green light. Just a little pin-point really, but as I watched it, it grew stronger and brighter until I had to go see what was causing it.
As I got closer, it began to "flutter and flicker" and very softly dimmed and then flashed brilliantly again.
When I got to the doorway, I saw that it was a tinsy-tiny piece of iridescent Christmas garland (put up over three "light sets" ago). Because the garland was iridescent, it had pink, purple, blue etc. colors on it, but the only "flash" that was radiating was the green light.
Believe what you will, but this gave me an instant sense of peace and I took it as a message from Dude. He was sending us this little burst of energy to get us through the days of pain we now face.
I wish I felt this peace right now.
I hope that you are all well, and please know that I love you all and could not have gotten this far without each and every one of you!
It is no surprise that Dude loved you all so much!
XOXOXO
Meesh

Jason Fri, 9 Apr 2010 10:37:53 -0500

Hey Meesh-
I was able to create a new post and included the full chain of this email.
If we want to clean up the formatting or post it another way,
I'll be happy to work on it later or over the weekend.

Missing Dude too.
Thinking about how best to honor the man, I considered what it meant to be Dude.
We are all familiar with his qualities, so I won't list them here again.
How can I honor him?
Well, I can't be Dude- I still have no idea how he pulled it off.
But I can be more Dude-like in my day-to-day.
Carry a bit of him with me, and approach the world as I think he would.

That helps me some.

In that spirit,
Love to you all-
J

Scott

I haven't had time to master the blog part but I love reading your thoughts. All of you. Dude is in all of us now, that is his legacy. I never thought of it as "What would Dude do"? before, but I have heard a few of you say or ask that recently. I have on my own, incorporated some of his "Do the right thing" attitude into more of my day to day now. I am not sure of the best way to honor him either but I can say that if we are all loving each other of which without him, I likely would not have the blessing of your friendships that I do have today, then that is a great way that he will be honored by me for the rest of my days. I now honor you, which honors him.

Dude's 40th from Dar!

And we can all post pictures and the like...

As well as embedding youtube videos, songs, and generally just sounding off each other. We can make a truly beautiful digital celebration of Dude!

Hi Chris - thanks for doing this. This way we don't tie up people's e-mails.
Love,
Mrs. Dude