My friend died today.

A year ago we agreed to get together to plan our retirements.

How we would enjoy our golden years.

My friend died today.

He never retired.

 

He was a busy man.

Helped a lot of people; supported and comforted them.

He was a very smart man, an educated man.

A family man, a community man.

And a thoughtful man, and a private man, in a sea of people.

 

We did not spend a lot of time together.

He was not my boss, nor my customer, nor my coworker, nor my pastor, nor my student, nor my teacher.

We were friends.

He was a year older than I.

His life is done.

I live another day.

 

We got together a few times.

We enjoyed rich conversations together about life and love, fathers and sons, learning and work and play, and death.

We listened and we understood.

 

They say he had been ill, I did not know.

I wondered when we would have coffee again.

Suddenly,  death took him away.

I should have spent more time with him when he lived,

I should be more like him,

I should do the right thing more often.

Self-recrimination.

 

But no, he would say not that, but rather,

We do what we can in our brief moments of living.

 

You lived,

You loved,

You worked,

You served.

You are a light in my life.

Rest in Peace friend.