I had not seen Tom in years ... We had not spoken in years either ... I had made several efforts to track him down but that was to no avail...
He was somewhere in southern Florida ... and I was on the west coast of Canada ... but through the process of a "reunion organizing committee" I came to learn that I had only missed him by a hair's breath ... He has just passed off the face of the planet ... it was sudden ... I'll be finding out the details later in the month after a fellow reunionite visits southern Florida and gets the details ...
It is with sadness at first that I recalled Tom ... I think it was more that I missed him ... he just slipped past me ... that I had been close to finding him ... and that sadness passed quickly ... it was then the old stories just floated to the surface of my mind ... the good times we had together and now for as many days these stories keep coming to the surface. Smiles rather than tears. Some good laughs too.
I can remember the names of the kids we worked with at the Valley ... some of the antics we got ourselves into ... the sojourns to Toronto ... good God we had fun ...
I miss him ... I just never thought he would slip away quickly like that ... in the back of my mind I hoped that we still had time for one more get together ... one more bullsh_t session ... a time to let down our hair ... but and here is the counter weight to all that ... we had fun ... and for that I will always remember ...
As we used to say at Twin Valleys School ...
Thanks For Sharing ...
Take care Tom you're missed
NDT: ode to a friend ...
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