Good Bye, My Friend :-(

My good friend and coworker died suddenly last night.

I'm in shock and stunned by it. He wasn't sick or in bad health. He was fit as a fiddle. He was part of the emergency crews at work. You have to be in top physical condition for that. Yet he's gone.

He was only a few years older than me. This death hits to close to home.

When I started at BOC many moons and years ago, he was one of the first employees to befriend me. I felt honored that he considered me a friend. He didn't think highly of most people at work. Yet he was always my friend and always helped me with stuff at work if I had problems. It didn't hurt that he thought I was a crazy mother fucker and fun to work with.

He was one of the few I associated with outside of work. We used to go fishing. We used to go drinking many times after work. The mother could drink beer like no other. In my drinking heyday I could drink him under the table. That's saying a lot!

I've lost relatives to death including my father.

I've lost friends to distance and time but this is the first friend I lose to death.

I'm still to stunned to be sad. Yet I felt empty at work today knowing that I'll never see him and his funny walks again. I'll never get to yell out my nickname for him whenever he walked by. He was a hell of a story and joke teller. I'll never hear those words from him again. I'll miss him calling me a "crazy mother fucker" or a "sick fuck."

At least my last two days working with him were memorable. On the 4th of July he cooked for us at work. Yesterday, his last on Earth, I went to the back area where he was working. We were cutting up and joking. The memories are no big events but they are the type worth carrying for a lifetime.

He leaves behind a young family. I feel for them. Like them, I lost my father unexpectedly and in apparent good health. I'll keep them in my prayers.

Most of all, I'll miss my good friend, fishing partner and former drinking buddy.

So long good friend. May you find peace and rest in the next world.

Your grieving Pope,
JP3