Loss of a family friend......

I hope I have some poingent thoughts to share on this blog but often I am too busy to get that thoughtful. A high school classmate DOES share some really meaningful and funny thoughts on his facebook page and said I could copy what I wish. Here is his latest entry about the passing of someone very special to his family.

By Darren S., Lewiston, ID, April 18, 2009

We sent another one on their way today. Buried a friend. Said good-bye in our own special ways. Some of us laughed, some of us cried, and some of us just stood in disbelief, always thinking there would be one more chance to say the things that we could never bring ourselves to say. Like thanks and I love you George. I can't remember the first time I met George, my moms "friend." I remember thinking to myself that he could never take the place of my dad, could never be a grandpa to my kids. And now years later I realize that he never tried to do either, he was just George. Him and mom would go out to lunch and soon one or more of the kids were tagging along. Him and mom would babysit on the weekends. Mom invited him to Priest Lake one year, an invasion on our family spot for 30 some years, but George stayed in the campground keeping a low profile while the rest of us rented a cabin. Soon mom was spending all of her time in the campground with him and the kids soon followed, so a year or two later we were all camping out with George. He started coming to family birthday dinners and spent the holidays with us. He became the grandpa that neither one of the kids' "real" grandpas wanted to be. George adopted us and we adopted George. George wasn't smart, handsome or macho, but he became a hero to all of us that knew him. He wasn't an expert at anything, but he knew a little bit about everything. He spent most days fixin' things or buildin' things or learnin' things.
George spent close to 20 years with us and we all grew with him as he did with us. We were the family that he never had and he was the dad and grandpa that we never had. He was there when mom told us that she had cancer. He was there during the surgery and the treatments. She spent the last few months on Georges couch, choosing to be with him because she knew, like we all did, that nobody would take better care of her than George. He fed her and bathed her and helped her with everything she needed. He was her punching bag when the realization of death scared her to the point of lashing out. He was there when she died.
George was worried that we would forget him. I told him he would always be a part of my family as long as he wanted, but things were never the same. The memory of what brought us together was the same memory that tore us apart.
The world needs more Georges now than ever before. Gentle, unselfish, loving people. Those of us that knew him will never forget him. One of those unique characters that only come along once in a lifetime. Someday when the ache in our heart subsides, we will sit around the fire and tell George stories...and laugh again. We'll look up and wonder why there's that one star that's brighter than the rest and realize that it's just George, still watching over us in his own special way.