It has been a while since I posted here. I've been traveling for six weeks, living out of a small suitcase in fourteen cities in three countries. I had an iPad and wrote a few things thinking about possible posts here, but mostly enjoyed the trip, took pictures, and posted to another blog about the trip. I probably won't get back to what I wrote for this one while traveling. Things move on.
We got home about three and a half days ago and it seems to have taken that long to shift the nine hours. I'm just beginning to feel adjusted. Topping it off has been a mild recurrence of the cold I had in the early weeks of the trip.
I came home to learn of the death of another friend. I guess it is going to be like this from now on, but I don't have to feel okay about it. As much as my own demise doesn't seem to have much charge for me, the deaths of people I have valued or been close to in some way seem to have a deeper effect. I lit candles in a couple of cathedrals for my friend Don, and wish I had known my other friend, Bob, had been ill. I would have lit ones for him.
Bob was a little less than a year older than me. We met doing community theatre in a small New England town. After acting together in a couple of shows Bob asked me to try out for one he was directing and that's how I ended up with the lead role in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue." It was a remarkable opportunity and experience for someone who had no training and uncertain skills. It was more a testament to Bob's faith than to my abilities. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Bob's life took some tough turns. His wife left him for a younger man who Bob had mentored. He battled and beat a lifelong problem with alcohol. He was laid off from work but made a go of starting a small business and then counseling others who had drinking problems. I hadn't seen him for over twenty-five years but kept slightly in touch through the connection of my kids and my ex with the town where Bob lived. He had some fairly serious medical problems over the last few years. In the last two years we made a Facebook connection, and it was through Facebook that I learned of his passing.
I miss him. He was a man with a great heart, and I miss him.
We got home about three and a half days ago and it seems to have taken that long to shift the nine hours. I'm just beginning to feel adjusted. Topping it off has been a mild recurrence of the cold I had in the early weeks of the trip.
I came home to learn of the death of another friend. I guess it is going to be like this from now on, but I don't have to feel okay about it. As much as my own demise doesn't seem to have much charge for me, the deaths of people I have valued or been close to in some way seem to have a deeper effect. I lit candles in a couple of cathedrals for my friend Don, and wish I had known my other friend, Bob, had been ill. I would have lit ones for him.
Bob was a little less than a year older than me. We met doing community theatre in a small New England town. After acting together in a couple of shows Bob asked me to try out for one he was directing and that's how I ended up with the lead role in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue." It was a remarkable opportunity and experience for someone who had no training and uncertain skills. It was more a testament to Bob's faith than to my abilities. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Bob's life took some tough turns. His wife left him for a younger man who Bob had mentored. He battled and beat a lifelong problem with alcohol. He was laid off from work but made a go of starting a small business and then counseling others who had drinking problems. I hadn't seen him for over twenty-five years but kept slightly in touch through the connection of my kids and my ex with the town where Bob lived. He had some fairly serious medical problems over the last few years. In the last two years we made a Facebook connection, and it was through Facebook that I learned of his passing.
I miss him. He was a man with a great heart, and I miss him.
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