Nine years ago I had a dinner party at my old house in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. Vivian and I hosted my friend Kim, my neighbor Fae and our friend Don Anderson. At one point, Don was talking about being in the Navy and serving in World War II.
We listened up until the point where he said that the war had started after he had been in the Navy for years. Mental math suddenly made Don a lot older than any of us thought. We had guessed him at around 59, but he was actually 74.
We made him show ID. There was no way he could be 74. But he was.
In 2004, Vivian and I took Don on a tour of the second version of the USS Bon Homme Richard. Don was on the inaugural launch of the original BHR in the 1930s. He said, "I thought it would be a big adventure. But as soon as we sailed out of San Diego I thought 'What the hell have I done?!'"
About eight months ago, I met up with Don at his daughter's restaurant. He sat down and said, "They caught up with me." He was referring to years.
On Friday night this week, Vivian and I went to visit Don in a managed care facility by our offices. This morning he passed away.
The last two years weren't so comfortable for Don. He was pretty drugged up on Friday. But he was still Don, still in control, and he looked ready to go.
Last week, we lost James Kim who was 6 years my junior and someone with whom I identified with so completely that he seemed to be an alternate reality version of myself.
The week before that, I met and spent quality time with Sophie, my new niece who is barely a month old. And at that same time I visited Vivian's Auntie Jesse who is 94 and, while she has her off days I'm told, remembered me from my visits 6 and 7 years ago when Vivian's father was in hospital.
Yesterday, I received a call from a friend who was expecting a baby but they lost the baby at the end of last week. Which brought back some of the emotions of when Vivian and I went through that. And Vivian got a call from another of our friends to say that her brother was in hospital and they couldn't bake cookies together.
So, golly gee, if all this doesn't make one feel ones mortality, I'm not sure what will.
I just don't have anything to say , but shrug. So it goes. Not much on my mind recently. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Posted by: TramadoL84359 | 05 January 2007 at 00:51