Losing a Friend
We lost a friend yesterday. He was a grumpy old man, and I loved him. I can't remember when we met him and his forever patient wife, it's almost like he was just there the whole time. My husband belongs to the Shriners. The Shriners are a volunteer group that raises money for their group of hospitals. The percentage of young guys is much smaller than the group of old guys, so my husband wound up with a best friend almost 35 years older than he is. It's not all that surprising, from all accounts my husband has been 80 since he was born. We met our friend through the Shrine. Our friend was a vocal supporter and an even more vocal critic. He didn't suffer fools and never hid an opinion. Politically we stood very far apart, but ultimately we just wanted what was best for our country and province, and had different ideas on what and who that meant. We spent a lot of time together at Shrine functions. Dinners, dances, BBQs, parades. We traveled together to conventions and go...