Friends and Giving Thanks

[Ron Sower]

I told Linda when we moved into this socially active 55+ community that we were going to make a lot of friends in here; and we were going to lose a lot of them too.

It's happening a second and third time now. 

105 days ago I listed a home for sale for Mary, a really dear person that I knew from seeing at social events, and she's worked on some board things with Linda and me. But as I began showing her home, I'd let the people roam the home and she and I would sit on the front porch in the sun and I got to know her better and better. She is a really sweet person and I like having her as a friend of Linda's and mine.

She went on a couple vacation trips this summer and came back totally exhausted. She went to the doc and was hospitalized with acute leukemia a week ago! During this same time we received a full price offer on her house!  Doesn't even thrill me like it usually does because she's ''out of it'' now and I can't really congratulate and celebrate with her like I want to.

I celebrate Mary and her family. She has a great daughter and son-in-law that I'm dealing with now, but it's not the same as Mary's hugs....

The 3rd one is a fellow living around the corner who's in his last stages of lung cancer. He may not come home from the hospital. He and his wife invited us to a cul-de-sac party right after we moved in here. They've come to our parties and been active in all the social events at the clubhouse. It's strange to not see him there.

I will celebrate and miss him and his open and caring smile and personality. 

You guyes, no replies necessary, just thanks for listening.......Er, reading! This is the most comfortable place I felt like expressing my thoughts on this.

[Barb]

You are a kind man Ron, to write so well about your neighbors who are passing on.  Bill and I are moving to a new neighborhood and we find that most on our new street are retired folks.  I am glad about this since it will be quiet and they will care for their homes.  Usually.  But I guess we will face what you are now.  Tis life, isn't it?
Barb

[Mugwump]

   Nice words, about nice folks, Ron. It seems the older we get, the time is there to actually really get to know our new friends more deeply, and our oldest friends become even more dear to us.

[Ron Sower]

Barb, Thank you. I really hope you and Bill (Did I call him Bob in my last PM to you? Sorry if I did.) will be as happy as Linda and I are when you get to your new home and community. We went 12 years in our last neighborhood and only knew 3 people there. It wasn't a community.

Mugs, you have done such a great job of pulling and holding together what I think is a unique community here on the worldwide web. This is definitely a community of friends that has gelled here. I love it. Thank you for doing this for all of us. E-friends here on Mugwump's!

[GraphicGr8s]

The older we get the more friends we lose. My neighbor passed two weeks ago. My next door neighbor's dad died 1 week previous.
From my neighbor down the next 4 houses are all kinfolk. First the daughter, then the son, then mom and dad (died 2 weeks ago) then the other daughter. Good caring neighbors.

[Bushkill]

 Getting older inevitably brings the issue of mortality (our own and the ones that matter) to the top of that long list of things we worry about or at least give thought to. I'm 58 and honestly hadn't even given it much thought at all until a few years ago. The first year we packed Michael off for school (the baby of the 3), I suddenly felt like I'd walked into a new world. The whole empty nest thing and the supposed freedom it brings is very overblown if your the type that was 110% geared toward providing and protecting. Just about everything I do nowadays is geared toward what I will, won't, or won't want to do 15 years from now. The thought process, planning and priorities became entirely different just a few years ago.

Caroline and I do reflect on the simple fact that we've experienced relatively little drama and tragedy over the last 30+ years. She's having issues with a sick aunt and uncle that are dragging her mother down more and more, but that's about it; and luckily we're not around the corner from the whole situation so that keeps it from being a daily distraction.......for now. We both know this will change in the coming years.

A few years ago, my oldest daughter married a really nice fella from Dayton who whisked her off her feet and took her to be one of Jon's neighbors in DeKalb. Still pissed as hell at him but I'll never say that to anyone, lol! For me, THAT was about the closest to tragedy I've had to face since my mom passed and may actually hit harder. Yup, still makes me virtually weep every so often that we only get to see my "pumpkin" once or twice a year. Not sure I'll ever come to grips with it, but I gotta....right? I perfectly realize that nobody's passed away, nor in poor health over this, nor is anyone at death's door; and I'm not even drawing a comparison to those trying scenarios. But for me, it's close to it right now.

So as I get older, I try to be thankful for the lives Caroline and I have led so far each and every day. I've put the stake in the sand and set a date of 12/31/17 as the date I go into semi-retirement and leave the daily commute to those who can still endure it. Yes, there's a few items on the bucket list already and look forward to start crossing them off in 2018.

But in the meantime, each and every day I say a few words of thanks for keeping my family and those really close to us safe and serene to this point. There truly has been somebody up there waiting to pluck each one of us away from harm and telling us how to do it right to this point and they do a darn good job of it I tell ya! So right now I count the hours until Christina, Angela and Michael walk through the door Thanksgiving day.

Reading this back to myself, I realize that this is all only semi-related to what this thread intended to express and I apologize for that. But it just got longer and I then realized it became a winding Thanksgiving dissertation; and I apologize for that too.

But those that read this will agree that there aren't too many places where one can get away with that.

[Ron Sower]

Reading this back to myself, I realize that this is all only semi-related to what this thread intended to express and I apologize for that. But it just got longer and I then realized it became a winding Thanksgiving dissertation; and I apologize for that too.

Not at all unrelated IMO. Maybe I should change the topic to ''Friends and Giving Thanks''. I'm going to try to do that.

Meanwhile, thank you for your sharing. It is good!

[Bushkill]

Meanwhile, thank you for your sharing. It is good!

About a dozen years ago, I used to do a volunteer spot at local college radio station. It was a blast while it lasted. I used to bring  Caroline and the kids along every chance I got. Some of you may be familiar with the fundraisers these stations do once or twice a year. Some, like that one, give away an hour-long "play DJ" spot in return for a more generous donation. Well, a fella named "Al" co-hosted with me for a whole morning. By the end of the program, we'd nicknamed it the "Sappy Dads Radio Hour". It fit well.

Al was one of those losses in my life; but for good reasons. Al and his wife retired, moved South and lived happily ever after. But you never forget a kindred soul even if they only enter your life briefly.

[Ron Sower]

Al was one of those losses in my life; but for good reasons. Al and his wife retired, moved South and lived happily ever after. But you never forget a kindred soul even if they only enter your life briefly.

I have two good ones like that. One is still living on the other side of the continent, and the other, deceased. Never will they leave my mind.