A Passing

This morning I lost a friend who was lost from me and then found again through Facebook.  In reconnecting with him, I learned how parallel our lives had been, yet how different they were.

We both became educators, married about the same time for the second time each.  Had children near the same age.  Both built our own homes.  When I reconnected with him, one of the first questions I asked was whether he still played the guitar and learned that treatment for Hodkins disease his senior college year had robbed him of the use and feeling of his left arm and that it had also caused other damage that ultimately caused other difficulties with his health.

He loved his teaching at Utica College where he had been since completing his PhD.  He adored his wife and daughters and a grandson that he got to share only two years.  He was well traveled and had many stories that he told in blogposts.  He was planning on retiring at the end of this school term.  Most of his posts he ended with, “I am a fortunate man,” and I believe that he, in spite of his disabilities he was a fortunate man.

I am going to miss his blog posts, his humor on facebook and his friendship.  I was a fortunate woman to have known him.  He will be missed.