Memorial day

[Flyingcursor]

Some people don't believe much in the value of dreams while others consder dreams a portal to something outside normal understanding.. I'm not sure I do either but eight years ago tonight I had a dream and for the first time ever I'll tell about it.

Back in '72 I met a girl named Laurie. Laurie and I became great friends and over the years that friendship never wavered. We celebrated marriages, childbirths, funerals, tragedy and comedy together. At the age of 30 she died. I was 32. She'd been on dialysis most of her life and had beaten the odds but finally, her genetic illness caught up. I was saddened by her loss but always knew it would someday happen.

In 1999 I had another friend named Mitch. We'd been friends only nine years but it was a friendship far greater than the word can imply. I could write pages of the times we'd had. He was also my sister's husband.

Friday, May 29, 1999. Mitch came over and we drank beer and had our usual laughing, fun time. He was living with his brother because he and my sister were in the middle of a divorce. Later that night his brother picked him up and I went to bed.

Saturday, May 20, 1999. I didn't feel too well that day so when Mitch called and suggested I pick him up and we party again I refused. I told him I'd get him on Sunday and we'd have a good old fashioned Memorial Day cookout.

Sunday, May 21, 1999. My wife worked nights so I was alone when I went to bed Saturday nighte. I woke in the dark and there stood my old friend Laurie. She stood right between my bed and the bathroom door. She wore a white robe and she smiled her usual, half cynic smile.

"Laurie!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
No answer.
"Wait, I thought you were dead."
She answered "I am".
"But you're right here. We have to call your husband and son and let them know!" I was frantic. I had to let her family know she was right in my room and alive.
Now, suddenly my head was on her lap and I felt content while she stroked my hair and said, "Everything will be all right."

Then I woke up. There was no Laurie but the lingering reality of a horrible dream where something had gone radically wrong.

I got up and went to the living room. I decided something must really be wrong and started looking up the phone number for her husband whom I hadn't contacted in nearly a decade.

I was startled by the pounding on our front door. Nobody came to visit at 5:00 AM, especially pounding as if chased by the headless horseman.
It was my sister.

She said, "Sit down I have to tell you something."
I sat.
"Mitch was shot last night."
I leapt from the chair. "Where is he? Let me get dressed."
"No. There's no good way to put this...He's dead."
"Oh god. If I'd gone to pick him up then...."
"NO!" she shouted, "Don't start that sh*t. You had nothing to do with it."

I don't remember where my oldest daugher was that morning but I had to go pick up my youngest from her mom to tell her.

We sat in my computer room and I tried to tell her what had happened but as I began I couldn't speak. I began to cry with horror and frustration. I was DADDY and DADDY's don't cry. My little girl put her hand on my shoulder and said, "It's Ok Daddy. Everything will be alright"....

The rest is a blur. My wife pretty much kept me sane for the next few months and a year later they found and convicted the killer.

I used to think of the many ways I'd make that basmati pay if given the chance. The Inquisition couldn't come up with worse tortures. Now I don't care. I don't much like that my taxes are paying for his like in Michigans prisons but I don't hate him anymore. I woudn't do CPR on him if he were dying in front of me but I wouldn't hasten his death either.

As Kurt Vonnegut said, "So it goes."

So this memorial day I will drink a Budweiser (YUCK!) in his honor (because he loved the swill) as I've done for the past eight years.

Thanks for listening.

[missy]

Flydood - I don't drink beer, but I'll raise a glass of something to Mitch this weekend, too.

[CountryKitty]

A Bud Light will be going up in honor of your friend and family member and the relationship you shared.

[jsluder]

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing.

Here's a toast to you and your friends (thanks to Mike Cross):

I wish you health, I wish you wealth, and happiness galore.
I wish you heaven when you die; what could I wish you more?
May your joys be as deep as the ocean, your troubles as light as its foam,
And may you find sweet peace of mind wherever you may roam.

[emmline]

I think you described a rare type of dream that does bridge the here and the there.

[izzarina]

I'll drink a toast to you both as well, Fly Dood.

[Coffee]

I can't stomach Buttwidener, but I'll toss back something in toast.

[anniemcu]

Incredible story. I toast your friends as well. Glad you felt you could finally tell it.

[Aanvil]

Well FC.

Someone or something saved your bacon.


A salute and glass raised to all we have lost this Monday.


Whoever, however and where ever.



I have two this year to remember.

One gone just two weeks now.

On his third tour.

IED.

Leaves a wife, two little ones and a helluva lot of friends.

.

[anniemcu]

... A salute and glass raised to all we have lost ...

Amen to that!

[cowtime]

... A salute and glass raised to all we have lost ...

Amen to that!

I'll second that.

[Flyingcursor]

Well FC.

Someone or something saved your bacon.


A salute and glass raised to all we have lost this Monday.


Whoever, however and where ever.



I have two this year to remember.

One gone just two weeks now.

On his third tour.

IED.

Leaves a wife, two little ones and a helluva lot of friends.

.

That's even sadder. I just can't help but feel a little selfish sometimes when I think of the families who are, at this moment, suffering from the loss of loved ones in this dreadful war. And even more of the soldiers who have lost, not one, but many friends to horrible violence. It saddens me even worse to know they are but mere boys and girls who had to grow up way too soon and will spend the rest of long lives jumping at every loud noise and waking in horror because some of those lost friends will keep returning like unwanted guests in the night.

[anniemcu]

... That's even sadder. I just can't help but feel a little selfish sometimes when I think of the families who are, at this moment, suffering from the loss of loved ones in this dreadful war. And even more of the soldiers who have lost, not one, but many friends to horrible violence. It saddens me even worse to know they are but mere boys and girls who had to grow up way too soon and will spend the rest of long lives jumping at every loud noise and waking in horror because some of those lost friends will keep returning like unwanted guests in the night.

Yes, war leaves scars on souls as well as bodies. I have a dear friend who was a medic in Viet Nam, because he had to serve but refused to do so in as a weapon. He saw horrors that we who do not serve in war can only barely imagine, and some of those were in the actions and policies of our own leaders that destroyed his trust in our government to a large extent (deservedly, believe me). We have to be sure that he is warned if anyone is going to set off fireworks, because the visceral reaction is just too much ... you can see it flash across his countenance... it leaves you feeling cold and with at least a modecum of understanding of what he, and so many others, have gone through.

My heart cannot see what has become of some of our fine and brave folks, now and throughout our history, and not hate war.

I honor and miss an alarmingly large number of folks today.