I still find it hard to believe that Miles is dead. He was a good man taken too soon. When I consider his life, I see several things to be grateful for. He lived fourteen years with the cancer, more than twice the normal life expectancy. He saw his boys grow up to be men. He enjoyed the fullness of life until the final stroke. When I read the entries on his Caring Bridge website, I understood what a wide circle of friends he had.
The strongest memory of Miles that comes to me is only one that the other members of SAE at Sewanee will understand. It involves a Saturday afternoon, and the Michigan-Ohio State game was on television. There was a guy who played for Ohio State. I believe I will leave it at that.
Last weekend, I attended a surprise birthday party for a friend in AA. Before leaving, I had a conversation with his wife about how the friends from youth and young adulthood stay with you. We all need people like that in our lives. I know I do. When they are gone, we miss them, but we carry that small part of them with us always, those memories of the good times, and we remember just how proud we are to call them friends.
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