[DHB]

I have been busy the last few months but the last week or so I don't see him posting.....

Are you out there????

[stereotruckdriver]

Originally Posted by DHB

I have been busy the last few months but the last week or so I don't see him posting.....

Are you out there????

I've been wondering to? I remember a post some time back but, can't remember it now? Hope all is well on his end! Bryce...

[Martin Fagg]

Originally Posted by stereotruckdriver

I've been wondering to? I remember a post some time back but, can't remember it now? Hope all is well on his end! Bryce...

I think he posted quite a while ago that he may not be on here much due to health problems.

Hope he's all right.

[lulubelle]

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=158146

Look at post #14. Hope he is doing well also.

[Martin Fagg]

Originally Posted by lulubelle

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=158146

Look at post #14. Hope he is doing well also.

That's the one I was thinking of. Hopefully he'll be back soon and regailing us with his bino knowledge.

[Marmot]

Why not send him a Pm to check on how he is.
http://www.birdforum.net/member.php?u=18544

[Kevin Purcell]

AFAIK, it's not health issues but personal issues that has reduced FrankD's presence here.

I wish him well but we may not see him for a while.

[kristoffer]

Lets hope he is back soon, he is a really nice guy. While we are at it, Steve C is also getting harder and harder to spot?

[Steve C]

Frank is just taking a break. I imagine he will see this thread and be touched by the concern. When the time is right he will be back.

Steve C is still here every day. I just have not had my hands on many new optics lately.

[ceasar]

He did this last year too. I think he was hunting then.
Bob

[FrankD]

Guys,

I appreciate all of the emails and private messages. SteveC, Kevin and Charles know what happened/is happening. I apologize for the sensitive nature of this material but I really don't care who knows at this point.

After 9 years of marriage the wife decided to call it quits. She found another guy and has been pursuing that aspect of her life quite fervently. I have been tied up with divorce proceedings, custody issues and the bottom of a bottle way too often. I sold all of my optics and much of my hunting stuff back in december. I have not birded, hunted or done anything of that nature for some time. I just don't have the heart for it right now not to mention the finances for it.

The divorce is final in another week and a half and the house goes up for sale on that day. Maybe after things settle down on my end I might get back into things but until then I honestly don't know. I do sincerely appreciate all of the kind words and well wishes from you folks. Many of you have been my family much more than I could have possibly expected.

I wish I had something more positive to share.

Thank you.

[Fireform]

Oh, Frank. I'm so sorry to read this. Hang in there and don't lose heart.

[kristoffer]

Really sad to hear that. The pain is just so tough and hard to carry.. but if you just manage to pass some time it will get easier, and eventually you will get over it.. I know from experience.
Lets hope the rest of this year will be better for you.

[stereotruckdriver]

I'm sorry Frank, wish there were more words. Hang in there, your missed! Bryce...

[Highway Man]

Same thing happened to me three years ago Frank. I suspect things in the US are rather different in the UK at least regarding divorce. When I left the house I took all my birding gear and the car. People told me I would get over it and thankfully with the help of great friends and a new lady in my life I did. Birding kept me sane and I started a blog to vent my frustrations, which is still going strong.
Hang in there Frank and get those Bins back.

www.ofpiesandbirds.blogspot.com

[DHB]

Bryce pretty much says it. I had a bad feeling it was something like this.

I am truly sorry.

Dave

[jgraider]

It breaks my heart to hear that Frank. Prayers sent from W. Texas.
Johnny

[Sancho]

Best wishes from me Frank. Sincerely. We´re tough, humans, we can get through all kinds of stuff. Oddly there is no appropriate emoticon with which to finish this post, but try to imagine a thumbs up, pat on the back, half-smile, furrowed-brow kind of thing....and hang on in there.

[stephen b]

Frank,

I do not know you personally, but have followed your posts in the time I have been watching this forum.

As others have said above, I am so sorry to hear about the pain that you are going through. I walked faithfully beside an ex-brother in-law, who was was like a real brother to me, when he went through the exact same thing 15 years ago. I still remember it vividly. I can concur as a witness to the level of pain that that horrible situation causes in a grown man. I spent many nights consoling him, crying with him and even though it probably was not a good idea,- I also spent many a night with him helping him finish off a bottle trying to get over the pain of the loss.

As was said above, the pain eases with time. In time the pain lessened for my ex-brother in law and he was able to heal. He married a great women (that I happened to set him up with on a blind date) about 13 years ago and they are very happy. His grown child from the first marriage is healthy and strong and is now married herself and just this past year gave my ex brother in law a beautiful new Grandchild.

I guess what I am trying to say in all this is that time usually does heal all wounds and life does move along.

Frank, my thoughts and my prayers will go out to you.

[Matt_RTH]

Frank, it takes guts to share and prayers are going out to you and yours. Hang in there and be well. Optical toys will be there when you are ready and I will look forward to your next review, test, comparison, or other contribution.

[KorHaan]

Frank,

I'm very sorry to hear this. I sincerely wish you strength in these unhappy times.

Ronald

[lulubelle]

I too would like to offer my heart felt sympathies. I have been on your end of the bargain and remember, like it was yesterday, the devastating pain, anger and torrent of tears. Take it one day at a time & be good to yourself daily. I shall keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there.

[chartwell99]

Frank - I was touched and saddened to read your post but, for what it's worth, I have walked in your shoes (17 years ago) and, thanks to the wonderful woman I met and married, I have never been happier than I am today. I am sure you you will find the same happiness too (she even tolerates my everlasting binocular obsession!).

[FrankD]

Guys,

You bring tears to my eyes to read your posts. Thank you. I have received countless pm's and emails. I am genuinely touched. I mean that.

I guess it is not all bad. On an upbeat note I dropped 46 lbs since this all started. At 6'4" and 218 pounds that is not bad. ;-) I can actually see all my abs again. I picked up a goatee and some tattoos as well.

Thank you for all the kind words and the prayers. They are genuinely appreciated. We will see how things go as time passes. Hopefully the warmer weather and longer daylight hours will change things a bit. Maybe I will even pick up a binocular or two.

You folks are great. Thank you.

[buckstaff]

Frank,

It's quite moving to read the empathetic replies and heartfelt responses from the regular readers of the binoculars forum here regarding your personal plight. Let me add my own hopes and support and complete confidence that you will emerge from the fog that obscures your view right now into a better light.

We have had a brief correspondence on the HuntingPa website when giving suggestions on some glass to a member there, and you recognized me as Bob S, a writer and artist from Pennsylvania. I must reiterate here that your astute technical expertise has helped me tremendously in making choices for various glass, and your honest enthusiasm in pursuit of the best view of this beautiful world surfaced in your reviews. And it surely is a beautiful world, and Penn's Woods where we both hail from, among the most lovely places of all.

You know, I often thought to myself that one of the great attractions of using binoculars was that no matter what may be occurring in our lives-- stress, pain, whatever--when we look through this wondrous apparatus it shuts off the rest of the world and we focus only on that one thing before us, and we relax and study it and marvel at it and every other element is shut out. It is instantaneously therapeutic. There is great personal peace in the view. And at the risk of sounding preachy, the view down through a bottle is not quite as rewarding.

I am sorry you have had to sell your optics. If you could post a place where you could receive a package, and when you are ready, I would gladly send you a pair of nice bins that you may keep. It's been said that in the natural world we always find more than we seek. You will find answers out there, but first you must look.

Bob S