THE PASSING OF A FRIEND

The rainy day that I thought was coming yesterday came today. It has been a fairly good rain, it is melting what's left of the snow in the backyard. Yesterday turned out to be a magnificent Sunny day! I sat outside most of the day and even took my shirt off and got some Sun on my belly. I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment [follow-up] yesterday afternoon. They called me in the Morning and said they looked over my chart and decided I didn't need to come in unless I had questions or concerns. I told them I was as healthy as a horse and happy to boot. So they cancelled the appointment. I was too well!

This Morning has been busy. Jamie had an appointment that included lab work. We actually made two visits because the time between when the lab work was finished and the appointment began was too long to wait. We had time to come home and run some errands.

I am now ready to blog but I am also ready to nap. We will see how it works out.

Last Evening got an e-mail that an old friend of ours died. It was not completely unexpected because he recently had surgery for cancer of the bowel, however it was surprising enough as I thought the surgery was quite successful, they got all the cancer and he was making a good recovery.

His name was Dan. He was one of those people I instantly connected with. It didn't matter how often we got together, it was like we never were apart. I felt that way with my Brother Garth and with a friend who was a colleague of mine when I worked at Anoka County years ago [the first round]. He moved to Duluth years ago and if we met today it would be like we were never apart.

How many people do we know like that in a lifetime? Is it because we have had many lives together in the past? Who knows? Shortly after I read that Dan died. I was sitting back in my chair in contemplation when I heard hundreds of birds chirping loudly! It was the music birds make during their dawn chorus in the Spring. My eyes went to the television. The mute was on the noise didn't come from that direction.

Now old men hear lots of noises in their ears of non-existent things. I know that. This wasn't one of those noises. This was birds in full throated greeting of a new day.

I can only believe that Dan payed me a visit on his way to his next experience and the birds were in full orchestrating beauty welcoming a beloved soul to eternal paradise.

That is what I want to think.

I bought a book a couple months ago and just started reading it. It is titled, “WALKING EACH OTHER HOME” by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush. Many of you know Ram Dass from his great best seller “Be Here Now”. Ram Dass is 86 now and has been in a wheel chair and partially paralyzed for twenty some years after a massive stroke. He has some aphasia but his mind is as brilliant as ever. This book deals with death. It is a good read. Interesting, that yesterday, I planned to begin reading it today before I heard of Dan's death.

Love and Peace, Gregg