Jean’s Dad, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #244
November 24, 2011 Michael Davis 10 Comments
Five minutes ago I hung up the phone.
I was talking to my dear friend Jean who texted me a few moments before telling me her Dad died.
I have never met Jean’s Dad or anyone in her family but when I found out her Dad died it hit me like a brick. I’m so sad, so very sad it’s like I had met the man and had known him for as long as I’ve known Jean. I’m still stunned that he’s gone and for a while I was at a lost as to why that was.
I know why it is, it’s because I love Jean and her lost affects me because SHE is affected.
My dear friend Martha hit me with some news last week and THAT messed me up also.
The news she gave me was about someone I know and care about and I just fell apart.
The older I get the clearer I see things, important things, special things, and meaningful things.
I’ve lost a lot of people in my life, family members and friends.
I’ve said it a million times; I know good people but it’s taken me all this time to realize that it’s the people in your life that define YOU. So knowing good people is cool but knowing how important they are in your life or in this case knowing how important they are in MY life is worth giving real thanks for.
This Thanksgiving I REALLY know what to be thankful for.
I’m thankful for Jean.
I’m thankful for Martha.
I’m thankful for Tatiana’s grandmother.
I’m thankful Tatiana is no longer 2000 miles away.
I’m thankful for my Right Wing Friends, Amy and Steve.
I’m thankful for Jasmine, her quirks and her massive talent.
I’m thankful for ALL my friends and family and I’m thankful for the family and friends OF my friends and family.
I could go on and on but like the little bitch I can be sometimes I’m starting to tear up (in a manly way.)
All my life I’ve feared death. Most likely, because I’ve seen so much of it. It hurts when someone you love dies and the pain never really goes away completely. I don’t so much fear death anymore as I fear I’m missing out on the little things in life that make up living.
So starting NOW I’m going to let those people I’m thankful for know it starting with my Mom.
I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my Mom in of all places Las Vegas. How fucking cool is THAT?
Sorry Mom…how gosh darn cool is that?
I’m thinking about you and yours Martha. Give your grandmother a big kiss for me Tatiana and Jean, it will get better.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family!
In fact, Happy Thanksgiving to EVERYONE!
Except Herman Cain.
Reg
November 24, 2011 - 10:05 am
Michael,
To borrow from the great Stevland Hardaway Morris…
“Love Lives Forever.”
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Mom.
And to the rest of the MDW fam.
Martha Thomases
November 24, 2011 - 10:26 am
Thankful for you, too, sweetie.
Mike Gold
November 24, 2011 - 4:48 pm
About a decade ago my dad told me he had outlived all his friends. He wasn’t happy about that, so I looked him in the eye and I said “Hey, you win.” He thought about that for a moment, smiled slightly and said “Yeah, that’s true.” Of course, he died five years ago at 90, the day before his 70th wedding anniversary.
So all this crap in life has to be weighed against the alternative. We all go through it, and the older we get, the more this happens. It sucks.
But you’re in Las Vegas right now with your mom celebrating Thanksgiving. I’m about to sit down to Adriane’s first Thanksgiving meal (first she prepared, obviously not the first she’s had). Sometimes we’re sinking, most times we’re treading water, and sometimes we’re having a nice swim.
MOTU
November 24, 2011 - 7:15 pm
Well said my friend!
Shane Kelly
November 26, 2011 - 9:13 am
I hope that you and your Mom had a fabulous time, and had a “Happy Thanksgiving”!
I will leave you with this great quote, “You do not know how much they mean to me, my friends, and how, how rare and strange it is, to find in a life composed so much of odds and ends… to find a friend who has these qualities, who has, and gives those qualities upon which friendship lives. How much it means that I say this to you -without these friendships – life, what cauchemar!” -T.S. Eliot
pennie
November 26, 2011 - 3:09 pm
MOTU, this shot-glass full of life girl is forever thankful for the handfuls who have been through it all together. Thankful for all the breaks–not so much those of the heart–but they come with the landscape. Compared with some desolate alternatives, this has been a real good go and for me you nailed it–it’s the people on the journey–not the destination. Thank you.
MOTU
November 26, 2011 - 3:21 pm
No dear Pennie, thank you.
MOTU
November 26, 2011 - 3:23 pm
Shane,
I’ll see your T.S and raise you an Ice Cube, ‘Today is a good day.’ 🙂
MOTU
November 26, 2011 - 7:08 pm
Reg,
It would not be the “MDW family” without you my brother.
Amy Kelly
December 2, 2011 - 12:11 pm
And I am thankful for my great, amazing, manly, teary eyed friend Mike Davis, who showed me that a brother could be like a brother, and a friendship can last years even if you’re far away, if the friendship is based on laughs and love. 🙂 OK, now I’M getting teary eyed, and I’m WAY too butch for that.