Blast out of past

[susandennis]

I just got an email from my ex-husband about a friend I had lost touch with. I first met John the summer I was 15. He grew up to be a lawyer (a very successful one, I might add) and we met again in our 30's about the time he married another friend of mine. I'd lost track of all of them (ex-husband included). The note this morning was about his death.

John died June 21 of a two-year-old brain tumor. He was 54 on June
18. He and Heloise were married 20 years and had a son, Ian. John retired
in 2000 after the tumor diagnosis.

Close friends wore Hawaiian shirts -- John's favorite kind -- to the funeral
and were entertained at the service with a medley of three Elvis Presley
songs picked out by Heloise and Ian. After the funeral his friends, members
of the Black Dog Reading Club, went to lunch and talked about how John had
wanted them all to read Proust, the heavy. They decided to read something lighter.

I'm not that good about keeping up with people. The summer we were 15, John and I were at a camp at Wake Forest University. We were a threesome with Holly. Holly eventually ended up introducing me to the guy who is my ex-husband. I've lost track of her, too. After I got the note this morning, I googled up Holly and think I probably found her daughter and send her a note.

Who would have ever thought we would grow up much less turn into adults without criminal, have children and die with Hawaiian shirt funerals? I think worse things could have happened.

Comments

[cloverbee.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this.

What a guy he must have been to have his friends honor him that way. We could all be so fortunate to love and be loved so dearly.

*gotta go blow my nose*