Old friends

The other day I was just perusing through my Facebook account and ran across a name from the past.  Marsha Zimmerman (Wollner) was a girl I went to school with for what seemed like forever.  You all had friends like that in Elementary school.  A really nice girl that for many reasons you knew but never dated.  Probably more because I had eyes for my childhood sweetheart who turned out to be more of a Tart than I could have imagined.

My 57 in better days

I contacted Marsha and found out that we have a lot in common, including  long marriages.  Marsha was a Special education teacher later on in her life and Barbara was one most of her adult life.  Marsha and her husband collect and love old cars like I do.  We have an unrestored 50 ford, a 53 Chevy three window round nose pick-up and a 57 Chevy Blaire.  Barb and I don't show the 57 much anymore and she doesn't go to as many car shows as I do.  I love to see the old iron driven and used.  The 53 truck is not a daily driver but it does haul our bikes to the local trails as much as we can go.  


When I think about my old friends from the old neighborhood, or Dog Patch as it was known, I am haunted by the fact that a lot of my old friends are no longer alive.  I am not talking about the older adults from generations older than I am, but Baby Boomer friends that have died over the years.  In spite of two of us going to Vietnam, we both came back alive and relatively normal (or what ever that is)  The first person we lost was Whitney Phipps.  After three tours to Vietnam as a Marine Infantryman, he was killed in a car accident in Southern California.  I am not sure who died next but Whitney's older brother John Phipps died a few years later from an illness that he should have survived if he had had someone near to take him to the hospital.  My buddy Wayne Reed died of a perforated bowel and died only because he too refused to go to the hospital in time.  The last guy on the list was Denny Lawrence who died last year of lung cancer.  After years of smoking, it finally got him.  That leaves the three Musketeers, Denny Petty, Ronny Sawyer and Harvey Blinn.  I am pretty sure it would surprise our parents to see how well the Dog Patch boys have done in life.  The bad part of that is that none of our parents them are alive to see our success.

Does this mean that I would haul it all back and change my life?  No, I am pretty sure that I have had a great time and plan on spending more time  doing the fun stuff.  I have no intention to encourage anyone to mourn my death when it happens. I have every intention to slide into my grave all beat up, worn out and broke.  Barb will have all the money and everything else.  truthfully I am not sure I even want a grave.  A simple cremation and a headstone in the Cemetery in Leavenworth is more than enough.


MUD