Time Passes

Generally, I have always been an optimist. In most cases, I've been able to find solutions to problems or the right words to explain or understand. There always seems to be a way forward.

Dave's dad, Larry, passed away sometime in the past 24 hours. My mom called to tell me to tell me what had happened and that preparations were being made. I realized that in the past five years more people that I've known personally have left mortality than in the previous years of my life combined. Without fail, all of them were good people.

I've been going to visit Larry for the past year, at least once a month, but sometimes more often. This last time we tried doing an interview over the phone, and I would say it was a success. He was an old-school salesman. It was about relationships for him. Shaking the other person's hand, a slap on the back, an arm over the shoulders. He liked to look you in the eye and share his feelings about things, about life. He also liked the telephone - it was his most convenient story prop. "I worked for the phone company for 35 years," he would say.

Larry always was a little choked up when I brought up Donna. She passed away a few years ago and I know he missed her so much. This is the explanation for why the memories I typed up of his life seem to run a little thin when talking about his family or his beloved wife. He just had a hard time because emotions were at the surface. You just don't make a city-cowboy cry (he'd laugh if he heard me call him that).

So this is it, the end of another mortal life, but the beginning of the next for him. Reunited with his sweetheart and pressing ever forward in their progression. It's what makes me an optimist. There is always a future, and it is a bright one! We are not pushing forward, however, but caught in the inescapable pull of time.