Goodbye Mearl

Damn, it’s good to be home. Let’s see, in the last month I’ve worked in Ogallala and Superior, Nebraska. Spent two days in Torrington, Wyoming. From there they sent me to Hays, Salina, three days in Beloit, and I just finished up a week in Concordia. And actually, I was scheduled to be in Great Bend this week, but things change.

I got home Saturday night, my wife and I went out to eat and headed to the casino. We walked into the Sac N Fox with a hundred dollars apiece and ready to kick some serious casino ass. Well, that plan didn’t work out. We walked out a couple of hours later, and the only thing left in our pockets was a little bit of lint. Oh well, we still had a lot of fun and got to spend time together.

Sunday was a wonderful day. The kids and grand kids all came over to watch the Chiefs beat the hell out of Oakland. We ate, talked, gossiped, played some mean games of ping-pong, and just generally enjoyed being together. Yeah, it was a good day.

Earlier tonight, I was able to go to my niece’s fifth grade, music program. I just love those things. I really enjoy watching the kids singing their little hearts out.

Yeah, it’s good to be home. So good in fact, that every once in a while, even if it’s only for a few minutes, I’ve been able to forget why I was able to get my schedule changed in the first place. You see, a good friend of mine died the other day and tomorrow, well, they’re going to bury him.

Mearl was a good guy. To a lot of people he was probably just another old guy. But to those of us who worked with him and got to know him, he’ll always be well thought of and will always be remembered. Mearl had been fighting pancreatic cancer for the last year or so. He was slowly losing the battle but in the end that’s not what killed him. He had a heart attack last Thursday night. It was a bad one. One that he’d never recover from.

I hadn’t talked to him for a while. I knew his cancer was terminal. But it had been in remission and he’d been feeling better the last couple of months. Like always, I put off calling him. I was either too busy, or just figured I’d call him later. Well ,later came and went. Now it’s too late, he’s gone and I regret not making that phone call.

I’m not telling you this story to bum you out. I guess I’m telling it so that maybe you don’t make the same mistake. If you have someone you care about, maybe it’s a your mom or dad, could be your brother or sister, maybe it’s just a good old friend who’s not feeling well. Call them. Tomorrow just might be too late…