If anyone has attended a funeral with military honors, the lone sound of the bugler playing taps will just rip your heart out. And to hear the sound weeping over that is excruciating. No that isn't too dramatic a description.
I didn't know my friend was in the military. Of course I always thought he was only a few years older than me so not being in the military would have been common. But he was 67 when he died last Sunday, so he might have been part of the returning soldiers from Vietnam. That would explain his never speaking of it. Never do I remember him speaking of it. I saw him one a week, every Wednesday, while we took a stained-glass class together. And after many years, the class ended. So we got together a few times a year with others in that class, mainly to stay in touch, catch up with each other's lives, offer support when stokes, illnesses and death happened. We talking of many things other that just projects. Life. Frustrations. For many years this went on.
I think I've know Mando for 15 years. As I was sitting in the chapel, I was wondering how Rosie will do. He was her rock. He was many people's rock. How nice to know you've touched so many people's lives like that.
2 comments:
I remember you telling me about him a few years ago. It's great that you stayed in touch for so long. Sorry you lost a friend, but you will always have those wonderful memories of him because you made the effort to keep him in your life.
Take care.
You've given your friend a very nice tribute and I'm sorry for your loss. Funerals are heart rending at the best of times but the military send offs touch the deepest by far. My uncle was buried at Arlington almost 20 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday.
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