for whom the bell tolls…
first, i want to let everyone know that the world was a poorer place as of this morning. my family have known walt and gloria since i was in third grade. they have been wonderful friends, and felt like my own grandparent, moreso, really. walt called me baby, as a kid, which my husband now calls me, and i think it endeared the term to me. when my mom was fighting with me, he consoled me, and told me stories about being in the military, being in jazz bands, being a musician, living a hard life. he and his wife raised some of their grandchildren, in their 70’s are raising great-grandchildren, have never had their house to themselves. when my mother was sick, or out of town, they would come over and do laundry, feed my dad, check on him, they called him “doc”. i think he liked that. when i got married, none of my family came, they sent me a nice gift and came to the reception, they know me better than my family knows me. they have accepted me as i am, since i was 7 years old. walt was a lifelong smoker, and paid the price, having been very very ill and hospitalized for months and months. i will miss him, he has been a big part of my life for 25 years, and was the kind of person that people remembered and asked about after meeting him only once. i send out my love to his amazing family, and his wonderful wife, gloria. i hope you get to smoke inside, wherever you are, and i hope they have good music. i’ll bet they do. i love you, walt.