In It, On It, Around & Through It...
Once when the house was still on the property and I had rented a room to a friend she created such a problem that I had to tell her to move. I said "rented" but she didn't have any money or job so she was staying at the house for free. She was supposed to be looking for a job every day but she was pretty much an alcoholic so when I left for work she cracked open the vodka and got drunk. I'd come home to a house full of people, a few I didn't want in my house at all, and she had trouble grasping the concept that I didn't want certain people at my house when I was here so I surely didn't want them there when I wasn't!
I remember the day I told her she had to move out because she was so mad about my locking her out that she broke 7 windows out and then tried to light the house on fire!!! She was a mess and, unfortunately, a few years later she died of causes related to alcohol abuse. I really do miss Cheri and had high hopes that she would conquer her demons and the addiction to liquor. But it didn't work out that way I'm sorry to report...
And then there was Bo, the first person I let move into my house. She did pay rent and except for her extreme electrical consumption she wasn't a terribly bad renter. The excess power drain was the breaker though and she had to go and another sad ending was that after getting her act together, earning a Class 1 driver's license and driving trucks she, too, died from some mysterious disease. I still see her son occasionally but I miss her as well.
Then there was Paul, a former Olympic swimmer who was Mark Spitz team mate when Mark won his record 7 Gold Medals in Mexico. Or was it 5 in Mexico and 7 in Germany 4-years later? Any way, Paul was disqualified from the Olympics because he was a life guard on weekends at the swim club he competed for and since he was paid or actually received membership in the club in exchange for his duties the USOC considered him a "professional" swimmer so he lost his spot on the team. I know it really hit him hard since he had devoted his youth to swimming in order to achieve the goal of competing at the Olympics. Paul was a master carpenter who was a perfectionist with great talent in wood craft. He had a heart attack about a year and a half ago and died at the hospital. He wasn't quite 60-years-old. Paul was going to assist me in rebuilding my house and thought the idiots who wanted to tear it down were crazy. I really miss Paul's level headed view on things...
About a month after Paul's death my friend John lost his life due to diabetes brought on by alcohol abuse. I was at his house working on his dad's van the night he fell 3 times and I had to help him up and finally into his bed. The next day an ambulance transported him to the hospital where he slipped into a coma and within a week his life had come to an end. John was a witness to the damage Code Enforcement did when they trashed my house and dumped my mother's ashes on the floor. John was there for me so many times during the 16-months from fire to demolition and he really understood what I was going through since he and his life-long companion Kathy had suffered through a house fire that cost him dearly as well. I'll always miss the sound of his Harley Low-rider rumbling up day or night, wind, rain or sunshine...
It seems so strange that in such a short time so many people left my life never to return. I have the memories but even as time fades those memories I will never completely forget the friends I've known. I have many friends still and know I'll make a few more along the way but I said my good-byes to those who are gone and look forward to the hellos yet to be said...
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