A Child of Mine
I will lend you, for a little time, A child of mine, He said.
For you to love the while he lives, And mourn for when he’s dead.
It may be six or seven years, Or twenty-two or three.
But will you, till I call him back, Take care of him for Me?
He’ll bring his charms to gladden you, And should his stay be brief.
You’ll have his lovely memories, As solace for your grief.
I cannot promise he will stay, Since all from earth return.
But there are lessons taught down there, I want this child to learn.
I’ve looked the wide world over, In search for teachers true.
And from the throngs that crowd life’s lanes, I have selected you.
Now will you give him all your love, Nor think the labour vain.
Nor hate me when I come To take him home again?
I fancied that I heard them say, ‘Dear Lord, Thy will be done!’
For all the joys Thy child shall bring, The risk of grief we’ll run.
We’ll shelter him with tenderness, We’ll love him while we may,
And for the happiness we’ve known, Forever grateful stay.
But should the angels call for him, Much sooner than we’ve planned.
We’ll brave the bitter grief that comes, And try to understand.
Edgar Albert Guest
Jonathan’s Story
Jonathan was born on 18th November 1976 in Wonford Hospital Exeter. He was a beautiful baby and grew to become a lovely and happy boy.
He would do anything to help his mum around the house – always willing to help and never naughty – a delight to have around.
He loved glove puppets, Basil Brush and the Muppets…… with his favourite one being Kermit the Frog.
We used to live next to the school in Berrow, Somerset, so having to get up early wasn’t on his ‘must do’ list. You can see how pleased he was about that!
He became really good at impersonations and could do Frank Spencer, and many of the characters from the Simpsons
Homer, Grandpa, Mr Burns and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (the shopkeeper) who he used to use as an impression of someone in a foreign call centre.
He would literally have us rolled up laughing.
Jonathan would inevitably find an alternative way of doing things, which was generally a complete short cut to get the end result.
Once, his brother, Lewis, was using a hand whisk to beat some eggs. Jonathan came up with the idea of using an electric drill with a whisk in the chuck!
Remember the Rubik Cube? None of us could do it at first but Jonathan could……..
he’d carefully remove all the coloured stickers and put them back to make the finished puzzle with the right colours on each side!
He liked mountain biking and we used to go to events all around Cornwall.
He was a bit of a daredevil at times and had a brilliant sense of humour!
He was good on the road bike as well
If we all went out on our bikes together, he’d often ride up a hill first, then come back down to help me or his mum get up to the top.
Jonathan with his first car – an Alfa Romeo 33.
He was so proud of this car.
He started work in the family business and built our website from scratch. He worked with me Monday to Friday and never missed a day’s work.
He would do lots of research on anything that interested him and he became very knowledgeable in many subjects.
He was kind, gentle, polite, loving, caring, good looking and he could sing as well.
In 1990 we moved to Cornwall and Jonathan had to leave his circle of friends behind. He struggled with making new friends.
He went to university in Plymouth, but wasn’t eligible for halls of residence and had to rent a bedsit away from the campus.
Consequently he didn’t make friends easily there and so he came home every weekend, but he didn’t have friends at home either. He gradually became depressed and we had to bring him home ending his time at Uni.
The depression continued after we moved to Paignton and became worse. We lost his two favourite cats, Indy & Lally one after the other, one being hit by a car and the other just dying from the loss of her little sister.
His doctor prescribed many different anti-depressants, all of which had unpleasant side effects. He once told me it was like being a dumbed-down version of himself. He attended every available counselling session in the area, but they all proved ineffective for him and the depression unfortunately took hold.
He bought a house in Paignton and set up home there. He took on two little cats for company – Alfie and Fifi and also re-homed Rex, a lovely Sharpei dog from Animals in Distress in Ipplepen. Unfortunately Fifi was later hit by a car and died.
Rex
Alfie
He loved Rex and would give him lots of ‘special’ food…..
Jonathan tried several times to come of his medication and use self-help techniques, but found that he always had to revert to taking some form of
medication. He really didn’t like having to take pills, but was torn between the effects of taking them and not taking them..
Even though he was depressed he made friends in the latter stage of his life through Outlook, plus the people he got to know through local support/spiritual groups andthe Sharpei community. Thanks to Helen, Angelina and Glynne for being his friends.
Jonathan used to take Rex everywhere with him and Rex would be most comfortable in the passenger seat next to Jonathan in his Jeep.
He liked this quiet ferry stop on the River Dart by Greenway, opposite Dittisham
In the early hours of Tuesday 14th November 2017, Jonathan finally succumbed to a darker side of life that he had been drawn into. The pressures of that side of life became too great for him to overcome and, while Rex and Alfie were sleeping, he took his own life and freed himself of, what he thought, was the inescapable downward spiral of depression that he found himself in.
