Life After Death: The Story of the Green Donkey

Home
>
Inspirational
>
Life After Death: The Story of the Green Donkey

Life After Death: The Story of the Green Donkey

This is the true story of what Deepak Chopra would call a "Whopper". It is a story so touched with the hand of God it seems almost impossible to believe, and yet, there can be NO doubt for those of us who are believers that this really happened!

My best friend passed into Spirit on May 15, 2004 at the age of 45, after a 10 year battle with HER-2 Breast Cancer. We had spent 40 years weaving the fabric of our lives together in a dance that was just magical. Ours is a long story of love and friendship. It is hard to relay in a few words the significance of this miracle,but I will try.

Two years ago Karen started having massive headaches and was feeling "weird". We were headed off to a healing weekend in New York State and having a grand time. It was just the two of us tooling around in the car and laughing and enjoying each other's company. At one point, she became very serious and told me she thought her chemotherapy may be causing these symptoms. She was struggling as to whether or not to go off the chemo and just let God do His work. I told her this was a huge decision and one not to be taken lightly. I am a big believer in asking God to give us a sign when we need an answer to an important or not so important question. Because this was a VERY important question, I told her she needed to ask for a sign that would be unquestionable! Something so "unusual" that it could only be from God. I then said, "How about if we see a green donkey? Then you can go off chemotherapy." She giggled and said, "That sounds great". The rest of the weekend we searched for a green donkey. We found yellow pigs, purple cows, red dogs and even a green horse.How we tried to rationalize that a horse is almost a donkey. But we knew it had to be a "Green Donkey". We even spent the next afternoon in Woodstock, NY going through every store but never found a green donkey.

A week later the headaches continued and she went for an MRI. Her father also passed away from Alzheimer's this same week. On the morning of his funeral, she received a phone call from her oncologist telling her the cancer had spread to her brain. She went through the whole day, a huge funeral, and never told a soul except her husband what she had found out that morning. She had courage beyond human strength. She made it through brain surgery and massive radiation and lived two more years. She passed on May 15, 2004 surrounded by her whole family.

What follows is what I said at her memorial service (which 700 people attended). Notice the part about the "green donkey" toward the end.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Karen for over 40 years and calling her one of my best and dearest friends. But I know I am just one of countless best friends that Karen had?there was something about her that just made you want to be close to her and know her better. It reminds me of the song by the Carpenters.

On the day that you were born
The angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue.

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around.
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.

To Karen's family?she was a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter, and a cousin, but for the vast majority of us here today, she was our friend. A friend of the truest sense and one that was there for each of us no matter what was going on in her life. Remarkable, selfless, trustworthy, sincere, kind, compassionate, spiritual, and beautiful are words that can only begin to describe Karen.

Besides being a friend,Karen was a teacher. She taught me more about strength and courage than I ever wanted to know. When my son deployed to Afghanistan last Oct, she came to me one day like an angel sent from God. She held me, cried with me and instilled in me "The Power of Now". This gave me strength that I did not know I had. If I can take one tenth of her strength and live the rest of my life, then I will be happy.

I will miss her human presence more than I can even imagine at this time... her spirit while she was on this Earth was immeasurable. What I look forward to from this day on is how she will guide, love, and watch over each of us in her new found strength in SPIRIT.

And so I say to you my dear Karen, "Godspeed to you on this new journey you have undertaken. I know Daddy was holding your green donkey and that now you know all the Divine Order that is so hard for us to understand here on Earth. I giggle at the thought of our next life together and I ask you Sister Karen to hold down the abbey until I get there".

When I returned home from her service that evening, there was a message on my answering machine from my son, who was in Afghanistan, serving in the US Army. He had never, ever called on a weeknight since he had deployed, until that night. This in and of itself spoke volumes to me. I was sad I had missed his call, but I knew he was OK and surely sending me some love from afar, even though he did not know of Karen's death yet. Karen had given me extreme comfort and support while she was alive in regards to his deployment and no matter what was going on in her life, she always asked how my son was doing.

That same night, the phone rang again around 2:30 AM and it was my son. What a joy to hear his voice! We spoke for about 20 minutes and during the conversation he mentioned that his best buddy and teammate had put new pictures up on a website of them in Afghanistan. I tucked this info into my mind to take a look at the next day.

The next morning I went with Karen's family to a private burial and then spent the rest of the day with them. I arrived home around 4:00 and read some e-mails and then remembered I had to check out the new pictures. (This is now 5 days since her passing.) There was a new folder named "the Month of May". I opened this and started looking for pictures of my son. There were around 20 new photos. Mid-way down the page I noticed that one picture was titled "Donkey". In the small picture format it looked more like a green tree. I opened the picture to its full size and almost fell to the floor....for there, sent from a war-torn country by an American soldier, was Karen's sign that she had been healed, not on this Earth, but alas in heaven! It was a picture of a donkey with a bundle of GREEN branches tied around it. She knew that if she involved my son in getting this sign to me, she would be successful, for I would NEVER not look at these pictures.

To me, there is also a great significance in the actual "green donkey" she gave to us. I always thought that this sign would come in the form of an inanimate object or it would be the name of a bar or restaurant. I NEVER thought that the green donkey would actually be a "living donkey". But yes, Karen's donkey was ALIVE as were the green branches that adorned it. Karen lives on in Spirit and will always be alive to those of us that knew her. The news of this green donkey gave peace to her family and our community. I feel her presence with me always and thank her for her continued caring and love.

To view the actual picture of the Green Donkey, please visit my website at http://isurrenderthis.com/ click on the "About Us" page and then on the wording Green Donkey Marketing, LLC. Scroll to the bottom to see the photo.

Lisa Sullivan is the owner of Green Donkey Marketing LLC, a company named for the events in the above story. Green Donkey Marketing produces and markets spiritually based products. The premiere product for Green Donkey Marketing is the personal alter tool "I Surrender This".

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Gaza fighting rages despite cease-fire proposal (AP)

AP - Israel resumed its Gaza offensive Wednesday, bombing heavily around suspected smuggling tunnels near the border with Egypt after a three-hour lull to allow in humanitarian aid. Hamas responded with a rocket barrage.

Pink slips pile higher amid deepening recession (AP)

AP - Pink slips are piling higher as companies scramble to cut costs even deeper to survive the country's economic and financial storms.

Obama taps spending watchdog, eyes Social Security (AP)

AP - Pointing with concern to "red ink as far as the eye can see," President-elect Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to tackle out-of-control Social Security and Medicare spending and named a special watchdog to clamp down on other federal programs Â— even as he campaigned anew to spend the largest pile of taxpayer money in history to revive the sinking economy.

Senate Democrats yield to Obama, retreat on Burris (AP)

AP - Senate Democrats beat a hasty retreat Wednesday from their rejection of Roland Burris as President-elect Barack Obama's successor, yielding to pressure from Obama himself and from senators irked that the standoff was draining attention and putting them in a bad light. Burris said with a smile he expected to join them "very shortly."

Obama hails 'extraordinary' moment with presidents (AP)

AP - Confronting a grim economy and a Middle East on fire, Barack Obama turned Wednesday to perhaps the only people on the planet who understand what he's in for: the four living members of the U.S. presidents' club.

Melting snow causes heavy flooding in Wash. state (AP)

AP - Rain and high winds lashed Washington state Wednesday, causing widespread avalanches, mudslides, flooding and road closures as the heavy snowfall that has buried parts of the state began to rapidly melt.

Feds say inauguration attractive terrorist target (AP)

AP - The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama is an attractive target for international and domestic terrorists, but U.S. intelligence officials have no information about specific threats to the Jan. 20 event.

'Dark Knight' sweeps People's Choice Awards (AP)

AP - Holy People's Choice Awards, Batman!

Lin, Harvard upset No. 17 Boston College 82-70 (AP)

AP - Jeremy Lin scored 27 points to lead Harvard to an 82-70 upset over No. 17 Boston College on Wednesday night, three days after the Eagles upset previously top-ranked North Carolina.

AP source: Browns to hire Eric Mangini as coach (AP)

AP - Eric Mangini is the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns, a week after being fired by the New York Jets. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that Mangini will be introduced Thursday at a news conference at the team's headquarters in Berea.

Israel bombards Gaza as U.S. backs ceasefire proposal (Reuters)

Reuters - Israeli warplanes bombed targets across the Gaza Strip on Thursday and tanks advanced on Palestinian guerrillas as U.S. backing for a truce proposal raised expectations of an end to the offensive.

Explosions heard in northern Israel: reports (Reuters)

Reuters - Several explosions were heard in northern Israel on Thursday and Israel suspected they were caused by rockets fired from Lebanon, Israeli media reported.

Profit warnings, job losses herald lasting slowdown (Reuters)

Reuters - A fresh wave of profit warnings and job cuts soured investor sentiment on Thursday after an employment report suggested U.S. job losses in December could be the worst in almost 60 years.

Senate Democrats move to seat Burris (Reuters)

Reuters - In an abrupt switch, Democratic leaders began talks on Wednesday to swear in Roland Burris, appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

Budget deficit to hit $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2009 (Reuters)

Reuters - The U.S. budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009, congressional forecasters said on Wednesday, the result of an economic recession that has cut tax receipts and caused massive government bailouts of banks and automakers.

Mumbai-like attack could happen in U.S. : Bush aide (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. cities are vulnerable to an attack like the gun-and-grenade assault that terrorized Mumbai for three days and killed 179 people, the White House homeland security adviser said on Wednesday.

"Enemy combatant" will be early test for Obama (Reuters)

Reuters - The case of Ali al-Marri, accused of being an al Qaeda "sleeper" agent and held for 5-1/2 years at a U.S. military prison in South Carolina, will be an early test for President-elect Barack Obama.

Salmonella outbreak sickens 388 across U.S.: health officials (Reuters)

Reuters - An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has made 388 people sick across 42 states, sending 18 percent of them to the hospital, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.

Several rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon: military (AFP)

AFP - Three to four rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon early Thursday, military sources told AFP.

Israel bombs Gaza tunnels as peace moves gather pace (AFP)

AFP - Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.

Life After Death: The Story of the Green Donkey

Inspirational Inspirational