Kiss the angels

The news this morning of a friends death stopped me in my tracks and for a moment I gasped, breathless. No! No, I needed to go visit with him and tell him what I’m up to and hear his wise accent and words of wisdom. He was a friend, an old friend, like a great uncle to me. He was brilliant and captivating, and eccentric and he adored me and I adored him. He was cheery in both demeanor and dress, always proper and well heeled, ready to entertain on a whim. He had wanted me to take him to Ireland, and we never went. I didn’t see him often and when I did we would sit and chat for hours. His life was so interesting, one of the more interesting people I’ve known and he’s gone. And I feel badly, badly that I didn’t spend more time with him recently. When I heard of his passing I felt I’d let him down, did he know how amazing he was, did he know how much I adored him? He lived a long life and he gave so much of himself to our community, I just hope he left us knowing his impact made a difference in people.

I’ve been so busy, busy with great things but busy none the less. And I hadn’t taken enough time to visit my dear old friend recently and now he is gone. Being too busy to take a short bit of time to catch up with someone who is dear to you, is just not acceptable to me anymore. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. And it means it’s time to recalibrate and bring perspective back into the balance of my day to day life. For my dear old friend Dexter I will miss our conversations and most of all your wit. Rest in peace and kiss the angels.