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August 28, 2005

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You know, there comes a time in every man's life when he's got to look over his misgivings, misfortunes, and miss "whatever her name is".
And say you're sorry.

But in this case its a huge apology to my friend Larry. Larry and I met in high school, many years ago. Immediately after high school, I decided to move on to bigger and better things, or so I thought I was doing at the time. I couldn't comprehend why anybody would want to stay in the same small town, and find some small job, and do such small things with their lives. Larry was one such person. Not only did he stay in the same small town, but he also stayed living with his parents. And for that I did one of the worst things I could ever do and criticized him for his life decisions, or lack thereof, as I saw it at the time.

But what Larry really did was way far beyond my own capacity.

As Larry's parents were much older, he was actually an accident and one of those children that they thought they would never have, making them old enough to be his grandparents. At the time of the end of high school, they were already in need of attention of care. Larry not only stayed with them in their small home, but he did everything possible to care for them for the rest of their lives, which had ended just this past year. Not only did he care for their every need, he never complained about it whatsoever and took care of every aspect of what it takes to care for the elderly and handicapped. Some things that I could probably never endure myself. But he did.

So for that and all these years, I have a huge respect for my friend Larry, who has always been there for me and anybody else close to him in his life. He was there with me the whole time when my father passed away back in 1998, and for every visit I took back up to Oregon. And for all these years of ignorance I give him a huge apology for me being such a narrow minded, self righteous idiot, and for the way I criticized him.

Life certainly has a way of grabbing us and shaking us up a bit, and we grow to realize that nothing is quite what it seems, and definitely not at all what we imagine. And I ponder if, and when, I will ever grow up and learn from my mistakes.

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