"I hurt myself today" ... Zeke

(Johnny Cash reference)

Just as I was posting what I thought was a funny thing about me and my dog, I learned that a dear friend had passed away. In CSN (Cancer Survivor Network) we knew him as Ezekiah or, as I called him, Zeke.

It seems it was only a few days ago that he posted a pic of himself in the hospital, confident that he would be getting out and doing a bit of home care before moving on with his life.

I took him at his word, because he has always been an honest man, sometimes a brutally honest man, but always a kind man.

I remember that early on in our relationship, I called him an SOB, assuming it is of standard usage now and was certainly not meant to offend him. He did take umbrage with it, he DID take it as a severe slight against his mother, and I had to consider that sensitivity and literal understanding of words when we spoke in the future, which we did often once he forgave me .

I remember that he loved his wife so much, long after she had passed away from cancer herself, that he would infrequently simply post something in her honor, a remembrance and a signature of his abiding love, which I respected greatly.

I remember that he had great pride in his children and adored his grandkids, and that he loved Michigan, and that he loved his former life as a big rig driver apparently of many varieties.

And I remember his love for me, and for others in CSN, and how his loyalty, once earned, was forever without doubt.

He could be a curmudgeon and I sometimes wondered how much of that was real and how much was staged, especially for the ladies, It didn't matter. The ones I knew who knew him loved him as I do.

This world has lost a gentle man and I am in tears.