Getting Old Sucks No One Tells You That If You Are Lucky....

[3RDLIFE]

Sorry for your loss, hope the happy memories come to outweigh the grief in time. Sounds like you were lucky to have such a great friend so long.
I've been in recovery for a long time and my prior jobs include the Navy, construction and commercial fishing and diving. All things that mean dealing with a lot of death.
I'm hesitant to make close friends because so many people I've met meet tragic ends far too young. I count as blessings the friends I still have from childhood and my wildman days that have survived.
The worst part of growing old is not what happens to us, but what happens to those we love.

 

[releventchair]

My condolences.

 

[guest]

Sucks getting old, no one tells you when you are young that if you are lucky, you get to bury all your family and friends.

Im dealing with severe grief over the death of my very best friend of 52 years. Terry went to sleep Oct 1st and didnt wake up on 2nd. We still talked often although we lived in different cities 130 mioes apart, I talked to him 2 weeks before his death reminiscing about our many adventures. He died from natural causes of complications from his diabetes.

We saw so many legendary bands perform dirt cheap. We had 3rd row center for Stones, $20 general admission festival seating. We saw Skynyrd 3 nights before plane crash 8 foot from stage in center festival seating, same for Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Bad Company, Aerosmith, Meatloaf, ZZTop, Reo Speedwagon, and so many more

Terry and I roomed together for 6.5 years, working for same company, we worked together for 4 companies over 40+ years, we worked and roomed together in 5 states, 7 cities, as well as taken 5 major vacations out west, we both loved camping and by 1980 we had camped and visited every National Park west of Mississippi river, we even took winter camping trips to Colorado.

One camping trip in 1978 lasted 6.5 weeks, we left Minot ND, for Yellowstone and beyond, we drove over 7,000+ miles all over the Rockies, Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountains, took coastline drive from Seattle to LA, every scenic turn out and every National Park in Washington, Oregon, and California, from there we hit Neveda, Arizona, Utah, then returned to Minot ND.

Terry was the kind of friend I could call and ask to borrow $1000 dollars and he wouldnt ask a question, and it worked both ways.

He called me one night when I was living in Missouri, said he was arrested and needed to borrow $1000, he started explaining what happen, and I stopped him, and told him I only needed to know 2 things, city, and state to wire the money to.

Im going to miss him the rest of my life, I was 5 years older, we met when he was 20 and I was 25, I was suppose to go before him..

Here is picture of us in Oct, 1974, L-R Virgil, Terry, and myself. Terry and Virgil grew up in same town, went to same school in hills of Kentucky, same age, all 3 of us were sent to Marion Ohio to install central office for GTE, we decided to rent house together and I met Terry through Virgil then. Because they came from hills of Kentucky they would bring back good moonshine every time they went home.

Hello @Treasure_Hunter .
I am very sorry for your painful loss.
These are precisely the kinds of things that no one can prepare you for.
There is an saying: Growing old is not for cowards.
All my best.