Hostmonster
| I just found out that a close friend of mine, one of my inner circle, is dying of cancer.Bob is only 60 - a young 60, at that.Barely a touch of grey highlights his full head of hair and beard, and he cuts a fit, trim figure.Always the source of a bawdy joke and a quick laugh, Bob?s the kind of guy you want around when you want to celebrate something fun, or need cheering up when things aren?t so fun.But he won?t be around long.His doctors gave him just a few months to live.A few months.Imagine that.Two weeks ago he didn?t have a single symptom of anything wrong with his health.Now, with incurable tumors on his kidney, pancreas, both lungs, and several lymph nodes, he faces dying before the end of summer, and possibly much sooner.In his characteristically positive way, Bob is philosophical about it."Forty years ago I was shot in the head getting off a bus," he told me and two other friends at lunch today."I was lucky - it grazed me and never even cracked the skull.An inch over and I?ve have been paralyzed or killed.So the way I look at it, I?ve lived the last forty years on borrowed time."I met Bob twelve years ago at an Oregon Brew Crew meeting, a few years after I moved to Oregon. |
| So the way I look at it, I?ve lived the last forty years on borrowed time."I met Bob twelve years ago at an Oregon Brew Crew meeting, a few years after I moved to Oregon.Over the next few years we became friends, confidantes, co-conspirators, brew mates and drinking buddies.Bob taught me to make mead and cider, and lifted many a hazy glass to help me figure out what to do with an unfinished batch.He was, apparently, a good teacher; the only brewing competition awards I?ve won in the last three or four years have been from cider and mead.Bob was there for me a year ago when I was down and out, making sure I didn?t drink myself into too much trouble, and taking the heat from the bartender when I did anyway.He saves big bones from a pot roast to give to my dog, often leaving big chunks of meat clinging to the bone, knowing she doesn?t get much of that in my vegetarian household.Bob is like that - generous, always thinking of others... even furry little others.He spent a year as President of our brewing club and another year assembling a voluminous beer judge exam study guide, strictly as a volunteer project.Bob wasn?t even studying for the test himself.The year he ran for President, he was opposed by a cantankerous, argumentative iconoclast who spent most of his waking hours, it seemed, heaping abuse on Bob and his allies.After the election, Bob did something no one else managed to do: he reached out to this guy, listened to him, and tried to understand him.Rather than shrugging him off as a freakish enemy, Bob made him a friend.I can?t say I?ve ever done anything comparable in my life.I can say this.Bob has been a good friend to me, and he pays me the compliment of saying I?m a good friend of his, too.For the next few months, I can?t think of anything I?d rather be. |
| Bob has been a good friend to me, and he pays me the compliment of saying I?m a good friend of his, too.For the next few months, I can?t think of anything I?d rather be. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 )
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