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Subject: "Remembering a friend...Semper Fidel" Previous topic | Next topic
Mike ShafferSat Jun-13-20 07:50 PM
Member since Feb 01st 2024
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"Remembering a friend...Semper Fidel"


          

He died about a year ago. During the war in Viet Nam he joined the Marine Corp. He was a sniper...it affected him strangely. We'd be walking on a city street and an Asian gent would be walking toward us. He'd nod and say, "I used to shoot guys that looked like him." I'd hit him on the shoulder...hard. It didn't do a bit of good as he chuckled at my reaction. It was just a love tap to a Marine. He had a sick sense of humor to top it off and after learning more about his background it made sense. We started to write a book once, but got sidetracked by my editing of the story to make it sound like one voice, and never got back to it before he up and died on me. His daughter is a chip off the old block, but she's a whole lot sexier. Cary was passed over for a promotion on the railroad and quit because he was the best and most qualified choice, but it was a time of the railroad making up for past racial grievances. Cary couldn't agree that he should have to pay for the mistakes made before he was hired. He found work as a car salesman and made it last until he could retire. He always had a gift of gab and put it to good use. He was grandfathered in, but I couldn't convince him to stick around a couple more years for his 30 years...it made a ton of difference to his retirement income, but it didn't change his mind. Once a Marine always a Marine.

"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN

  

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FalconSat Jun-13-20 10:55 PM
Member since May 05th 2013
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#1. "RE: Remembering a friend...Semper F"
In response to Reply # 0


          

To Absent Friends...
My first best friend became a deputy sheriff in his late 20s. He wasn't cut out for it... suicide at just past 30.
Lost my other best friend a couple of years ago... he's still alive, but his mind is gone. He became a danger to himself and his family. Giving that deposition was the hardest thing I've done, because I knew it would end our friendship.
45 years we had.



Falcon






Falcon

  

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Tennessee DaveSun Jun-14-20 11:57 PM
Member since Feb 01st 2024
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#2. "RE: Remembering a friend...Semper F"
In response to Reply # 0


          

I very often wonder about friends that are long gone. They started dropping off when I was about 35. Oh, the reasons are common enough but I still can't help but feel they could've altered their outcomes in life.
And on the other hand I believe "things" are well ordered. That we can only go along for the ride, so to speak, only influencing.
But, we can't have it both ways.
More than likely our ways, no matter the outcome dictate the final result of our endeavors.
I still miss my friends that are long gone. But I do realize ... we have our choices.
So mostly I just move along.

Tennessee Dave

"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God"
Author unknown

  

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Mike ShafferSat Jul-18-20 11:50 PM
Member since Feb 01st 2024
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#3. "RE: Remembering a friend...Semper F"
In response to Reply # 2


          

Lost a few friends and family too soon. One died in her sleep. We went to school together and she, her husband, my wife, our kids and I would sometimes hang out. The phone rang and Debby, my wife at the time, told me who it was and she couldn’t understand him. I took the phone. His wife, my classmate and friend, had died in her sleep. About age 40...no known health issues. He was devastated and inconsolable. We moved From Maryland to Florida shortly after that and over time lost contact with the family. After decades of searching for an army buddy from Nam Who was from California, I finally located him In Arizona the week he died from cancer. You never know what hand life is dealing you. My Dad survived all sorts of health issues and even managed to come through the loss of the love of his life, our mother, and get his own life in order, only to die in an auto accident, waiting to make a turn a few blocks from home. I have known my ex wife literally since the day she was born, and even held her while I was sitting on the couch, when she was a baby and I was about six or seven. It became obvious to me she had moved over time into a shell and was not the vibrant outgoing person I knew. We separated once the kids were grown and on their own, and it was easy and wonderful to see Her break out of her shell. Lost a good friend suddenly a decade ago, and even his wife, an operating room nurse, couldn’t save him. He died slowly only because of the care she could give him. I watched her die a few years later...cancer had invaded her body and it was too late to save her, but we tried. Life is a gamble and you never know the hand you’ve been dealt...all you can do is play it out.

"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN

  

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SailBoatSun Jul-19-20 12:31 AM
Member since Jan 04th 2011
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#4. "RE: Remembering a friend...Semper F"
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Sorry for your losses. Yes, life does deal us a hurtful hand sometimes. But we just press onward with memories -- both bad and good. And try to make the best of what we have right now.

  

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