News of my high school/college/fraternity/sorority prom date’s father’s death:

Two people killed in 3 car accident

A nod to my new facebook friend, Rhonda Vincent, who, like her contemporary, Claire Lynch, has provided many an insightful moment of joyous bluegrass music.

I contemplate my mortality on a sunny Wednesday – nothing but blue skies, temp in the mid-50s (Fahrenheit), cats asleep on the bed.

I guess the last time I saw Monica was at her wedding in Kosciusko, Mississippi, many years ago.  Since then, her two children, Christy and Jeremy, have grown up, and her facebook update indicates she and her husband are contemplating a move to Singapore.

She and I shared a near-fatal car smashup with two other secondary schoolmates.

And now her father is dead, his last moment alive spent in an automobile.

This is a day when the intersecting cycles and spirals of life put me in a blue mood.

Sure, I’m healthy and happy for my age and physical condition.

Going to the fan pages of musicians may divert my attention but my thoughts wander away.

Of what worth am I if I can find no comforting words to give what for many years people considered my closest friend and girlfriend?

Monica, I don’t know what to say.  Our paths diverged so long ago that I’m not sure who you are anymore, although you seem to have lived a good medium-to-upper middle class life raising two good kids.

Your father sat down with me and had a serious discussion of the possibilities of he and I being father and son in-law.

He honestly told me that some of my immature actions when I was younger had caused him to wonder about the relationship between you and me, but he trusted you, and he had watched me mature into a good, young man.

He advised me to look around his house and see if it represented the kind of lifestyle I would expect if I married you or someone like you because, after all, it was the lifestyle to which you had grown accustomed.

He wanted grandchildren one day and would expect his son in-law to go deer hunting with him on occasions, although water skiing was a good substitute (his joking reference he made to the summers we skiied on the lake at your family’s lakefront property).

Other than that, he hoped I’d focus on my university studies and choose a good career to support a family, no matter who I decided to marry.

Good, solid advice.

Here we are, 30 years or so out of secondary school and now he’s gone.

You and I are middle-aged, your children making adult decisions of their own at about the age your father gave me sage wisdom.

That’s all I know.

All I’ve got to offer.

Your legacy is secure.

More than plenty.

I’m happy for you.

We’ve had good lives.

I celebrate your father’s life, knowing your children will talk about the wisdom and advice you and Dean gave them and their future spouses, because they had your father in their lives, gently guiding them in the right direction.