I have read that high school students set their ring tones to a very high setting so that their older teachers cannot hear their cell phones ring.
That is one of the cruel tricks aging plays, hearing loss. Another trick that aging plays is that you can hear the sound of life rushing by. Something that comes frequently with aging is the loss of friends.
This past week we lost one of our dearest friends, Steve Weisberg. Steve had traveled the globe playing music with John Denver when John was at the top of his game. Eventually life on the road (even on a Learjet) took its toll and Steve moved back to Dallas to help his folks in the family business. He fell victim to cancer.
Because Jilda spent three years getting monthly infusion treatments, we came to know the toll of cancer on so many. The center where she did her treatments was one where most patients were receiving chemo for cancer. Jilda is the type of person who meets someone and 10 minutes later, they have told her their life story and the two have become friends forever.
She was a rock star in that infusion room, people changed their appointments so they could be there on the days she came in. Sadly so many of her friends she made in those big green chairs died way too soon. It seemed we attended way too many funerals in those three years.
Last weekend we had friends and family over for a fish fry, and even one of Jilda’s chair buddies made the trip from Birmingham. It was a picture-perfect day. Jilda and our nephew Haven cooked up a great fry; nobody can fry fishlike Haven. I thought nothing could dampen that day, but after most of the guests had gone home, a friend we had known for over 30 years lingered.
She shared the news that the cancer she had beat years before was back and treatment was probably not an option. She just wanted quality of life over quantity now.
As I end this piece, I want to share some words to a song that Jilda and I wrote awhile back. The title is “Turn Around.”
“when you’re young you think you’ll live forevercan’t hear the sound of life rushing bysee no need to be in a hurryyou’re just along for the ride”
These days the sound of life rushing by gets louder every day.
