GOOD BYE, MY DEAR FRIEND….

 

GOOD BYE, MY DEAR FRIEND….

Just a few days ago… the 20^th to be exact…our last words were to each other was……..  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CIS……. And I answered HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WAYNE….. we knew you were not going to make it to your 73^rd birthday…. TODAY…the 31^st.

 

This ending a friendship that lasted 49 years…

I know it is 49 years because you were my husband Marv’s best friend.  And when I met your wife… we were both pregnant…very pregnant. And your son turn 49 two days before you left.. and mine turns 49 next month.

It was the 1970’s… in a small town called Roslyn, Washington.. and old logging town taken over by a lot of “hippies”… Wayne was kind of a hippie at the time.. just not a full bore one…  

With Wayne and Marv it was the beginning of a great relationship.. best buddies who could almost get in trouble..   It was drinking at the local bars, and playing pool thru the night.  Working on cars in the back yard.. some times his.. some times ours.. There was times of ….. well, I guess I can tell now.. with both of them gone…… but times of poaching.. Being we both were poor families… we needed the meat. But there were some wild rides, at least that is the stories that came back ….. with them laughing over how they almost ran off the road, and the time that Marv was so  tipsy, that Wayne had to hold him up, so he could shoot. Because even being tipsy, Marv was a hell of a marksman…  There were A LOT MORE STORIES.. but some I have forgot and some I don’t want to repeat.. after all they might try to get me for accessory after the fact.

Some times Pat and I would get a baby sitter and go to the restaurant where the guys were playing pool…. We were not the bar type..we were the people watcher type… So there you have it.. two very pregnant women in the corner of the room watching the funny drunks.

We had great times together… And Pat is my best friend… We have been for 49 years….  

Pat and Wayne got married very young.. in their teens… and then Pat’s mother was killed in a car accident… so Pat and Wayne raised her brothers… 3 of them as well as their own 3 children..  But as a lot of teen marriages, they grew apart when they hit their 30’s and divorced.   Pat ended up in France…and Wayne found another lady love, Debbie. 

As Wayne got older, in his late 60’s he started to get health issues..The wicked sticks called cigarettes finally came home to end up taking him away from all of us.

Wayne will be missed by all of his friends.. and friends he does have. Many…. Wayne was the kind of guy who if he decided you were his friend… you were his friend to the end of time.  Even if you screwed up… he would go to jail to visit you…not happy with what you did…but still your friend.  Always there to help. Anyone he saw that was with a broken down car, he would stop.  

He also was a man of many trades over the years… Always had an eye for valuables… and would sell and trade.

Wayne and I had a weird friendship… even after Marv died.. There seem to be a bond… even if we had not seen each other for a few years… if one of us was in trouble.. we would know it…  It was kind of weird.. as years ago.. while Marv was in the Vets hospital… Wayne stopped by to have a cup of coffee and check up on the kids and i. This one time…he brought what he called was “bones” I don’t know what they were made of, or even if they were real bones… but it was kind of a game he said.. a Native American game he had learn a few years before… It is kind of a shell, or keep away game.. you rub the bones in both of your hands… for a few minutes.. and then keep them in one hand…… the other…guess which hand.. We played this game for about half hour… and then every time, we did, it the other was able to guess.. I guess every time… and so did he.. no matter how straight I kept my face.. or stared in space with my eyes.. Every time   we just knew… He got up to use the bathroom… while in there, I thought about a man who was a mutual friend… I had a question to ask Wayne when he got out…  the question was … was this man gay… we had not talked about this man during our visit at all or anyone near him. Yet when Wayne walked out of the bathroom.. he looked at me and said… “Yes, he is”… I asked him.. what was he talking about…and he said.. you were going to ask me if (man’s name) was gay…and the answer is yes.. I was blown away… I asked him, how did he know what I was thinking… he said to be honest, he didn’t know..but while in the bathroom the thought came to him, with the question.. And that is the kind of relationship I had with Wayne.. kind of a kid brother like. Kind of kindred souls…… But I left Vay area, moving into Sandpoint, so we drifted apart. Running into each other occasional and always happy to see each other.  You know how it is, after the fact, you think .. how you should have stayed in contact more.. but life happens. 

Yes, Wayne was a man all his own… and he did life his way.. even to the point of leaving this earth.  He kept the ventilator on until the 20^th because he did not want to die on his son’s birthday… And when we visited.. I was joking with him.. that he couldn’t’ die because his birthday was coming… he told me I was living in denial…but I wasn’t. I asked him are you sure this is the way.. he said yes.. I asked him if he was ready for it.. he said yes…  So on the 21 at almost midnight, he had his family surrounding him.. he told them he loved them all but it was time to go.. he took off the mask and went to sleep and passed just past midnight.  He did it his way…  So God rest my friend.. like I told you.. I’ll see you on the other side… 
AND WAYNE……………..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY…