A Personal Note

I’m in a reflective mood.

I fixed Murphy, the $500 87 Subaru Turbo Wagon – replaced the front driverside halfshaft. I get great satisfaction when I give my car new life. That is the beauty of machines. You can bring them back. But real life isn’t like that. Last month, I lost a friend. It wasn’t someone I was close to, but still there was a connection, as there were a lot of shared high school memories, and he was in the same circle of friends that my sister and I shared an orbit with. I went to his service on Saturday, and shared a story about Brian, about the escapades that occurred in German class in high school. He would pass around a hat and collect money, go to the little market across the street, and bring back Doritos, Cheetos, and soda. That was German class much of the time, thanks to Brian. It wasn’t much of a story really. Again, I didn’t know him that well. There were others who were much more connected in his life than I. But I thought it would be nice to share this part of his life that some may not have heard about. In retrospect, Brian was someone I would have liked to have, and should have, known better. We lost a good one.

I’m going to do something none of us do as much as we should. I’m going to take this time to thank my family for everything they have given to my life (especially the music – even though we’re sometimes bizarre, God, I have a great family), and I want to thank my old friends (I will always cherish you guys), my band-mates, present and former (Cliff, Dan, Mike; I’m a better person and musician because you gave me the chance to play with such great musicians, and quality people that you are) and thank the new ones who have come into my life thanks to FaceBook (Beth, Mike, Jeanne, Bruce, etc). I want to especially thank Steve M. and Sylvia G., even through the turbulence, for being wonderful best friends all those years ago. I need to thank another friend who is no longer with us, Rob J, for teaching me how not to be afraid of my own life. Finally. to Greg… well, I can’t say enough.

OK, I’m turning the sappiness off now. Back to being a wise-acre!…

And NO, I’m not dying or anything. I just wanted to express my thanks to all of you. Now shut up and listen.

Uncategorized | Sonicfrog December 14, 2009

4 Comments to “A Personal Note”

By Cliff, December 14, 2009 @ 5:38 pm

Like a brother you will always be.
By Sonicfrog, December 15, 2009 @ 12:40 am

Great, now you’re talking like Yoda! Oh well, you’re still also like a brother to me too. If you’re a brother, that does mean you have to put up with Rob and Jeff too!
By Jeff Alberts, December 15, 2009 @ 3:19 am

I started a new job recently, building and repairing wheelchairs. So most of the company’s customers are elderly or very ill. When I’m in the middle of building a chair, and someone comes in and says, “You can stop, so-and-so has passed away.” It kinda hurts, even though I didn’t know them. My chance to help them is now gone. Is that selfish of me?
By Sonicfrog, December 16, 2009 @ 6:32 pm

No. I had a customer on my pool route who had all sorts of health problems, and after a while she could no longer pay her monthly bill on time. I decided to keep servicing her pool anyway. She would occasionally pay what she could, and I accepted that. Then, in the winter of 2002, there was a period where she hadn’t paid in three months, and I hadn’t seen her in about that long. That was unusual. Turns out she had a massive stroke and died in the house. They found her a few weeks later, but I was never contacted. So I serviced the pool for my dead customer for two months. Even though I never got paid, I still don’t regret it.