Little Pieces Of Our Lives Slip Away Every Day

It wasn't just celebrities departing this life in the last few days. We look at them, think we know them, and mourn their passing as if they were integral parts of our daily lives - but they're not. On the other hand, every day, somewhere close, someone dies who actually is in some way integral to someone's life.

To every thing there is a season...

Not long ago, one of my favorite authors disappeared. I don't know why, but it seemed like he just dropped off the face of the earth.

He had a terrific imagination, inventing new worlds and social structures in a kind of Utopian frenzy. His stories always carried a thread of sadness, however.

Valentine’s Day

As I was sitting down to write this, I got curious, and decided to look up Valentine's Day on Wikipedia. Man was I surprised! My intention was to bring out a little more information about the day itself, before launching into my own thoughts, but that went out the window... if you want to know about the history of St. Valentine's day, go for it. I'm not in the mood to repeat all that I've learned.

Reflections

I had a short conversation with my Honey recently, about old friends, and she surprised me somewhat. I won't go into the events that led up to the conversation, but it went something like this:

"Is there anyone among your old school friends or classmates that you would like to see again, or make contact with?" I asked.

The next sound you hear...

... will be the air rushing in to fill the vacuum at my old workplace.

I got a call today from a friend and former co-worker, to let me know about a retirement luncheon for yet another former co-worker. My buddy, JimB came to work at about the same time I did, reaching his 30th year about three weeks ahead of me. He hadn't orginally intended to retire so soon, but he changed his mind recently.  In discussing it with him, he told me that the deciding factor is the length of his commute to work.

In 1985, he was transferred from his previous duty station to Atlanta. His family had deep roots in the home they already had, and he and his wife didn't want to move. As a result he has to traverse 75 miles each way, every day ever since. That is love, folks. The mystery to me is not that he tired of it, but why did it take so long?

JimB is an asset that will be missed.