Do you have someone in your life who is always good-natured?...sees only the best in you and others?...is eternally positive about life?...I hope you are that fortunate...for me, this someone was my friend Neil...
Neil died this past week...after a protracted illness that wracked his physical body...and left his being untouched...I read somewhere...maybe on a greeting card...that an optimist could be defined as a person who always expects all the crayons to be in the box...Neil was more optimistic than that...he would have accepted the box as whole and complete no matter how many crayons it contained...
He was a positive influence throughout my life...we met in our early twenties when he was best friends with my lover at that time....and we remained friends after that love relationship ended...he painted my house too many times to count...and we lit up every time we saw each other...of course, Neil lit up anytime he saw anyone...
I always felt in Neil's presence that he was beaming me every drop of his positive attention, appreciation and care...I'm equally sure everyone with whom he came in contact felt the same way...because Neil was like that...a genuine, caring, generous man...who loved his family above all else...and his friends only slightly less...
We last spoke a few weeks ago...and I intuitively knew then that his time here was coming to an end...it wasn't what he said...or even that he acknowledged he knew...it was that he finally called after so many of my calls to him had gone unanswered...he sought reassurance that my husband and I are doing well...he called to say he loved us...he called to say goodbye, by saying hello...
When I think back to that one call, its content epitomized Neil's essence...he talked only about what was good...and real...and meaningful...and I will always remember him for embodying these qualities...and spreading them wherever he went...
A Transplanted Bloom
by Henry O'Meara
From every group Death takes a trophy dear,
From every cluster claims a precious flower;
And now so soon he plucks you from us here,
Bright friend of many a blithe and sunny hour.
How short it seems since last we happily met,
With mingling mirth and friendship in each eye;
And while the thought with grief is struggling yet,
How hard to give you but a prayer and last good-by!
O fresh and glad young life so early gone--
O radiant mind and heart that still shall dwell
In loving prayer and memory, living on
We leave you with one tearful long farewell, farewell!
The most fitting photo tribute?...an image of his superb work...not a brush stroke in sight...ten years later...he would love this...