faces and voices from the past

When I met Cliff in 1965, he worked at a metal-plating place. A lot of the guys he ran around with back then were co-workers from his job. When we got married, some of them were getting married around the same time, and on weekends we'd all get together. Our babies would play happily while some of us tuned up our guitars. We'd have jam sessions and out-of-tune sing-alongs until the wee hours of the morning.

As we grew older, interests changed. Boyde and LaDona retired a few years back, bought an RV, sold their home and hit the road, spending winters in Florida. Don D. divorced, took custody of his daughters, and sired another couple of daughters later on that he took in and raised at the same time we were welcoming our first grandchild.

I have LaDonna's email addy, and she'd sometimes update me on their whereabouts. They stopped by to see us perhaps a year ago when they were in the area, driving a little hybrid car. I hadn't received any email from her for ages, until yesterday.


Boyde has cancer in his throat-neck-ear area and is taking chemo (that's them in the picture, a couple years back). What a shock to me and Cliff; we're still not used to the fact that, once you're past sixty, you and your friends all start falling apart in one way or another.

So last night, Cliff was at work as usual. Grandson was attending a Royals game. I was at the computer in my nightgown trying to get in a last-minute bid in on a Dyson vacuum on Ebay, while waiting for "The Closer" to come on TV, when the doorbell rang. Huh? Nobody comes around here that late, during the week!


It was Don D., checking in after a four-year absence.

"Good grief, I simply have to buy some sort of robe or cover-up," I thought to myself as I recognized him and invited him in. We visited until 8 P.M., Cliff's lunch break at work, and I dialed Cliff up and put Don on the phone. While they chatted, I discreetly slipped into the bedroom and put some clothes on. They discussed their respective heart surgeries.

Don has had several heart attacks, and had stints put in; he recently found out he's diabetic. He's taking twelve different prescription meds, and is on disabled social security.

Isn't it strange that we heard from two of Cliff's old runaround buddies in the same day?

My mom always said things happen in threes; will I hear one more voice from the past?