A Dwindling Generation
Today, I am grieving again.
My lifelong friend, Pammy Jo lost her sweet Daddy, Joe today. We say lost, but we know where he is. But he is lost to us, the living on this earth.
I’ve known Joe my entire life. He loved me and treated me as one of his own. Some of my earliest memories involve Joe, Marilyn, Pammy Jo and her brother, Ron.
Our parents were friends. Our Moms did absolutely everything together. Pam and I have the ceramics to prove it! Our Dads sat together at Purcell Dragon football games. Joe, trying to keep Dad from getting booted from the game after singing 3 Blind Mice to the refs during a particularly bad call…or lack thereof!
So many memories of Joe have been flooding my mind this week as I knew his time with us was shrinking rapidly. I have wondered how many yards Joe mowed for people…even in the sweltering Oklahoma summer heat. I wondered how many trains he met at the depot in Purcell. I wondered how many Purcell Dragon football and basketball games he watched. I wondered how many kindnesses he did that no one ever knew of. I’ve thought of his smile and chuckle. I’ve thought of him and Marilyn…and how glad they would be to be together again. I thought about my parents and how they would be so happy to have the gang together again.
But, my mind also thought about Pammy Jo and her girls. My empathy kicked in. I know how she’s feeling. I know what she’s doing. I know the autopilot feeling. I know the blur that this week will be. I know the ache. I would give anything to take that ache from her. I can’t. But I can walk it with her. I can be there when she needs to just get the emotions out. I can listen. I can love. I can be what I needed 17.5 months ago. That’s the least I can do for someone who is more family than friend.
Pam and I had just talked on Wednesday about how this generation was dwindling. How very sad that they are leaving us. But, I’ve thought about it and although they physically leaving us, their legacies and their stories are left with us, like an inheritance. It is up to us, our generation to tell those stories so that not only are they not forgotten, but the next generation continues to learn from them.
Peace and blessings to you and yours!
lp
