Many of you have lost close friends, family and loved ones. Me too, but I think I just forgot how to lose someone I cared for and cared about. Last February, my buddy Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer. He hadn’t smoked in 50 years, but it didn\u2019t matter. He was riddled with it.<\/p>\n
I sat down to write about my last couple of months with Joe; times that my wife Connie and I shared with him, meals, tears and mostly smiles along with hospice and the end. As I started writing, a story didn\u2019t come to life, but this funky little poem about Joe did spill onto the screen.<\/p>\n
I hope you get it, it wasn\u2019t conspired or meant to even be, none-the-less, here it is. Thank you for indulging me.<\/p>\n
Small Things for Joe<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Years turned to days,<\/em> An ugly disease with no cure had come,<\/em> Five of six pall bearers graduated with you… in \u201960.<\/em> Flowers from friends and gatherers, more than a few.<\/em> Hushed conversations, embers of memories fanned.<\/em> Stories of a Carolina up-bringing that made many smile.<\/em> Mac & Cheese from a crock, not from a box.<\/em> And then, Cherry Romas from the garden,<\/em> What to do next, who goes where?<\/em> G. Crumpton Many of you have lost close friends, family and loved ones. Me too, but I think I just forgot how to lose someone I cared for and cared about. Last February, my buddy Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer. He hadn’t smoked in 50 years, but it didn\u2019t matter. He was riddled with it. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,6],"class_list":["post-5158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-greg-crumpton","tag-personal-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5158"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5165,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions\/5165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregcrumpton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Hours, then to haze.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n The way it would end, there was just one.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Family, Air Force and career rounded out your history.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Though none being more an American than you.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Half-true tales to your wife, who simply can\u2019t understand.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Tears of sorrow, as you walked your last mile.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n Some friends we knew, others we did not.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n On what will prove to be a day of Holy pardon.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n What happens to 50 plus years-worth of wares,<\/em>
\n The family, how will they all fare?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAugust 15, 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"