Just a little poem

[Tom]

This is an anonymous poem given to me by a friend.  Perhaps it is no journalistic masterpiece but it tells a story.
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Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end.
Yet days go by, and weeks rush on
and I never see my old friend's face,
for life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well
as in the days when I rang his bell.
and he rang mine, we were younger then,
and now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game
tired of trying to make a name,
Tomorrow I say : I will call on Jim,
just to show I am thinking of him.
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
and the distance between us grows and grows,
around the corner - yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir, Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end
around the corner a vanished friend.

[CHARLIE]

That poem is so very true and hit me dead center.  For several years I always intended to visit "Ugly Eddy" when I was in Jacksonville to see Tom....but I never did. Now "Ugly Eddy" is gone. Several times here at work, I've been in meetings  or sat at a table with a co-worker not knowing it was their last day on earth.

Lessons I've learned....

1) Always try to be pleasant with family, friends and co-workers. It may be the last experience you have with them.
2) Don't wait until Christmas or a birthday to give something special to one of your family, a friend or co-worker. Do it today. There might not be a chance to give them a gift or some of your time later.
3) Thank those people that made an extra effort to reach out to you when you were growing up. The ones that took their time to help, teach or just listen. Sit down and write a thank you note just to let them know you appreciated what they did for you. I've done that and it made me feel good. I sent a thank you note to a High School teacher that had given me some valuable tools I've used throughout life. At a class reunion, she looked me up to thank me for the note. She said it was the only note she had ever received like that and she treasured it. She got Alzheimer's disease a few years later. I'm glad I didn't wait to do that.

[RavioliKid]

Charlie -

Excellent advice!

Not that my mother's passing has been easy for me, but the time and attention I gave her in the five years after her stroke have been a great comfort to me. There was nothing left unsaid and I did everything I could - and so did she.

I think I'll go give my father a hug right now!