I missed a call this morning about 730am, from one of my oldest friends; he text soon after “Call me please”. When I saw this, I knew it couldn’t be good. I called him; he answered. He said “Merry Christmas”. I said “Merry Christmas….” He said “you know I wish this would be the only reason I’m calling you”. I said “uh huh…what happened?” He said “I don’t know how to say this so I’m just going to say it”. One of our good friends had passed away. Merry Christmas indeed…
I can’t recall exactly when I met him; we didn’t go to school together. He was from the neighborhood though, and eventually, I think around 8th grade/freshman year maybe, we would all start getting together more regularly. There were many of us that would hang out, but there were four of us who would be at the core of thousands of card games. I don’t know… for a while there, we would play 3-4 times per week; sure, there would be some hold’em, but we would mostly play a variety of games. Cincinnati, King Little, Burn, Hollywood, Super Hollywood, Queen of Hearts/Queen of Spades, Black Mariah, Basketball, Baseball, Option, Chase the Ace, Buy the Deuce, and a game I made up one time walking over there, Ski’s game… a combination of chase the ace and buy the deuce. Yes, Ski was my nickname, a name that only my oldest friends know me by; he was one of them.
We played for hours at time, just us 4. My friend that called me, along with my other oldest friend, both of whom I met in kindergarten, and this guy… this guy who we will never see again. We always talked about getting together and playing again; we had been playing once a year for a while there, but then, you know, COVID… family stuff, busy lives, etc… We had planned to get together again soon. And although I’m sure we will, it will be a foursome no more… that makes me very sad.
It wasn’t JUST cards… he was in that original group of fantasy football players, back, oh… about 30+ years ago, when we would keep the stats manually after browsing the football box scores in the Sun Times sports section. We had been on multiple trips together; a road trip to Iowa for the Broncos Packers Super Bowl comes to mind. Somebody somebody knew owned a bar out there; we decided that was going to be where we watched the game. It was a great game, and a great time overall. Then there was Vegas… our “foursome” made it out there early in our 20s; that was a blast. He actually got married out there; we were all there for that. I had my bachelor party out there; he was there for that. Yeah, many stories… but one that comes to mind. He would kind of go off on his own and gamble, hiding at some slot machine within the casino. I found him at one of those machines, and he had just won like $1200. I remember he gave all of us some of those winnings. For a guy that always claimed to be broke, when he had money, like that moment in Vegas, he was generous with it. Of course, how many trips to the “boat” over the border in Indiana; yeah, we gambled a lot… some may say we were degenerates. Remembering all the good times brings a smile to my face; knowing he’s gone brings a sadness to my heart, but nothing compared to when this message will be delivered by his brothers and his ex-wife to his mother and 2 daughters…
He is now my 2nd good friend to have died too young; I guess we’re not that young any more. Everybody always says it sucks getting old; this part, hearing about family and friends that pass… takes the cake as the biggest part that sucks. Hearing about a friend, my same age, that’s gone… just horrible. What can we do though? It’s just a reminder of how everything can change in a minute. I don’t know what happened to him, why he died… but from being at work one day, to being dead the next… I don’t know… Be thankful for all of your blessings; don’t take anything for granted. Try to do good, be the best person you can, for your family, for your kids… I don’t think it’s really sank in yet. He loved to bake too; I imagine he baked some stuff for Christmas… one of his daughters was really good at it; I think she was on one of those kids baking shows. His girls are in high school; they’re old enough for this to really hit them hard. His mother, having to bury a son…
I’m going to try to stop crying, although during Christmas, I’m super emotional anyways; it’s not going to be easy. I thought, I have to write about this… that’s what I do… this is my therapy… this will make me feel better. Well, it’s not working this time…
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