A Little Catching Up

     Hey boys and girls...yes it's that time again! Two for Monday! You're an idiot Peter; the phrase is Two For Tuesday! Get it...the T's?! Oh. Well, I couldn't wait. It's been a while, and it's Sunday night and the arthritic fingers feel okay. I don't think I've ever done two of these pieces in one night. So here goes.

    First of all, my mother would like to thank everyone for their kind words and well wishes in her newly found occupation as retiree. I stopped by and loaded up my Facebook page for her and showed her all of the Facebook comments as well as the e-mails from the non-Facebook crowd. As she scrolled down the electronic page and opened the e-mails I had received, my stepfather and I could see her smile and laugh, and every once in a while get a little misty-eyed. The occasional "Who is this?" or "What is he/she doing now" usually led to a warm memory full of laughter and the occasional sadness at how time had gone by so quickly.

   I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all of you. I am truly amazed at how many people read this thing, whether you catch it on Facebook or just go on the site. It is a constant reminder that I have more friends than I deserve. And if you never read this blog again, I'm glad you read that particular piece.

    Secondly, while we are on the whole friends thing (and by the way, the song Friends may be my favorite Elton John song. I mean, it's a great song. A great piano playing song. I'd sing it to you, but why ruin the moment, so...), I never thanked my friends for all the wonderful birthday wishes six months ago - specifically the Facebook crowd. I always tried to take the time in the past, but for various reasons this year...I just forgot. My apologies, and thank you.

    And last, but by no means least (and this is specifically for the PHS Class of 1980), if you had not read or heard, one of our fellow grads, Tim Miller, died this past October. Tim was not only a friend but he was, for me, family. An inherited cousin when my mother and step-father married, Tim and I were relatively close, as cousins go, when we were young. I'd spend time at his home in the Eldeberry section of Levittown with his sister Lori and their parents, Uncle Ben and Aunt Joan. We both played trumpet in the William Penn and Medill Bair orchestras, went to the same church for a brief time and spent more than a few family holidays together. Always a good time!

    Sadly, after high school, we drifted apart as friends and extended family sometimes do. We circled in different orbits even in our youth and when the time came to maybe reconnect as adults, those orbits won out. And in the end, time, the undefeated one, finally won out. 

    The memorial service was in one of the churches on Magnolia Hill in Levittown on the Levittown Parkway, a few hundred yards from the home where I spent my junior and high school years in Willowood. I used to run up that hill all those years ago, past the three churches to try and get in shape for the upcoming basketball seasons. For obvious reasons that stretch became known as "Holy Hill." And it was fitting that Tim's goodbye was held there. I have no idea what Tim's specific beliefs were, but after talking to family and his pastor, I know he took them seriously. His three children, as well as the extended family, friends and co-workers who spoke so highly of him, were testament to a life well-lived. 

    It has just this moment occurred to me that my year was bookended in death. To begin 2021, a service for my dear friend Jack; and now, to close out 2021, cousin Tim. And there were a few more in between. I know that life goes on but it's tough sometimes. For me, the written word helps...sometimes. 

    I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, 
    If you want me again look for me under your boot soles.

    You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
    But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
    And filter and fibre your blood.

    Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
    Missing me one place search another,
    I stop some where waiting for you.

Rest in peace, cousin.