been thinking of those ive lost in my life

ive since lost relatives , a best childhood friend , one of my most treasured later friends , and my FIL & MIL , a BIL , and a neice , 

there was a time when i didnt think much about this but in the last few weeks we lost another friend , one of my daughters teachers early on that married into our circle of friends , we also lost her son to suicide , for many years i thought i would experience losses in VN but i didnt , none of my friends or acquaintances died there , i realize im of the age when we start experiencing this often - used to be grad parties , then weddings , now funerals time to start checking the obits to see if im still around 

the thing that struck me here is that all but a couple in the list above were my age or younger , some a great deal younger than i am now , its starts to make you realize where in life you are at , 

im sorry for your loss , i know these things can also weigh on us , but in your case it sounds like he was someone you liked , celebrate his life and live yours well , thats what im trying to do - sometimes  verbalize too much 

glad to see you here today zed 

Parents and grandparents all gone, but none before their time so that's a good thing.  One of my older brothers died of Mesothelioma and a nephew killed riding his bicycle, they were both too soon.  

Ex-wife gone a year and a half ago under hush-hush circumstances although we were all told "It was unexpected and she didn't suffer much".  She was a life-long smoker so if I had to hazard a guess that might have been involved.  

In the long time friends department I've been very lucky as only a few of that large group have passed, two to motorcycle accidents.

Myself, I hope I'm good with God and I try to be an example of Christian love, charity, and grace although I know I fail miserably at all three sometimes.  

Yep. We're slowly becoming members of an elite club. The Survivors.

The shocker to me was my mate "AIF". He was briefly a member on here too. We were born within a month of each other.

The Mrs. says we were "Brothers from another mother" & it was true.

I was talking to George one evening for a while & we hung up & turned in for the night.

I'm in Md, He's in Arkansas.

A couple of hours later at Oh Dark Hunrett the phone rang. It was his very distraught wife calling to tell me he'd passed suddenly & unexpectedly.

Massive aortic embolism while taking a shower.

Oh the stories we shared from Germany!

All for the benefit of the "Ostees" who surveilled their parking lot constantly.

Once, someone who shall remain nameless, cut a whole sheet of ply into a giant Bowie knife blade & painted it, then they strapped it to the main gun tube.

Then there was the odd-shaped shipping container for gawd knows what. They found anything unidentifiable, plumbing parts broken TV antennas & so on. they attached them al over it, painted it black & slapped a big trefoil on it, then stood it on the engine deck!

We had toe a little more subtle.

Gorilla head masks when working in the transparent nose cone station, little gibberish signs for them to translate, many of the Il-28 crews didn't read or speak English. They'd grab hand-held pictures & break off surveilling us to go & get it translated.

or

Goon Baiting is a long-recognized RAF sport!