On the departure of a good friend.

On the departure of a good friend.

The first time we departed was on our first meeting.  We were young the world was new.  He was a friend when I needed one. He was a friend when I did not know how to be one.  Jr High can be a scaring place when you have no friends.  We were in orchestra together.  We laughed an joked and had a good time.  

We soon drifted apart.  He gained new interest beyond orchestra.  I took the lessons he offered me and learned to make new friends.  We coasted along the same river of life in high school.  Our currents would converge and we would renew our friendship.  

After high school our rivers departed further , as I attended Weber State.  We drifted even further apart as I served a church mission in Mississippi.  I would occasional meet him in Smith's Food King where he worked as a checker and we renewed our friendship.  I would depart at these meetings  with a renewed sense of kinship and bonding.  I felt that our friendship was important to him.  I knew that my life really mattered to him.

We recently began to spend more time together.  He became my boss at a company, Discovery Research, where I learned to take surveys to earn extra money.  Even when I made mistakes I never disappointed him.  He made me feel good about myself as he taught me additional lessons.

The last time we departed was when I went to pick up my paycheck.  I had not worked much the last two weeks.  I was concerned that I may have done something wrong and that is why I was not being called into work.  He reassured me that this was not the case. He invited me to step into Jill's office and to speak to her.  He was thinking of my welfare and wanted to reassure me that our friendship was still solid. 

When I learned of his death and final departure, I was saddened.  I knew it would be a number years before I would be able to renew our friendship.  I still have many lesson to learn before we meet again.  I have a wife who loves me and I have children to finish raising.  I am confident that when we meet once more we will renew our friendship as in times past. 

I will always carry with me the lessons he has offered me and I will be the man he sees in me.   To Quote Spock in his death speech from "The Wrath of Khan".  

"I have been and always will be your friend."

This blog was prompted by the death of Timothy Bradfield.