Even as this is posted, the last group to bid Bob a fond farewell is gathering at his folks’ house. There will be a potluck, some memory sharing, and a bonfire and fireworks later tonight. Bobby was such a pyromaniac, he would love that his closest local friends will be able to remember him this way.

As for me, being forever Mom’s “emotional child” has already taken quite a toll this year. I feel about as battered and bruised and beat up as a person can be, but somehow I still manage to put one foot in front of another and keep on keeping on.

So tonight I’m looking forward to some solid closure. I hurt, but I know I will heal, given enough time… Time, flowing like a river…

Time will ease the hurt

The sadness of the present days
Is locked and set in time,
And moving to the future
Is a slow and painful climb.

But all the feelings that are now
So vivid and so real
Can’t hold their fresh intensity
As time begins to heal.

No wound so deep will ever go
Entirely away;
Yet every hurt becomes
A little less from day to day.

Nothing else can erase the painful
Imprints on your mind;
But there are softer memories
That time will let you find.

Though your heart won’t let the sadness
Simply slide away,
The echoes will diminish
Even though the memories stay.

Bruce Wilmer

Wanna cry along? Try listening to any of these songs as you contemplate the fragility of life… Then go hug your friends like it might be the last time you’ll ever see them, and tell them you’ll always care. Then if today turns out to be your, or their, last day, you will have no regrets. Unlike me.

“The Way We Were”  Barbra Streisand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEcQS4tXgQ

 

“So Far Away” Carole King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UM249-WfP4

 

“Good-bye My Friend” Linda Ronstadt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBHcUv_42zI