January 28: We all have pictures like this: a moment frozen in time: the self-aware awkward glance at the camera perhaps hoping that if we don’t acknowledge it, it won’t get us. The man is wearing full Scottish regalia: kilt, shirt, and sporran – the works. He is striking and handsome. He is dancing “the old white man dance” as his daughter calls it, and he is laughing, perhaps caught in embarrassment. Behind him, emerging into the frame is a second man, also in full regalia.
These are my friends David and Ed in happier times – a wedding. And the picture seems to reflect how they were as friends: David always outgoing and the life of the party. He was the guy that told the stories. If David was around, we were laughing. Ed seemingly liked to hang back. More reserved, he was analytical and good with a trenchant comment that summarized his thoughts, deflated the pompous, and enlightened us mere mortals.
Sadly, David passed away 6 years ago, on Halloween – a day that will forever evoke his memory in me. His passing left a hole in our lives that has been impossible to fill. And today we learned that Ed too has died, unexpectedly and far too soon. Someone once said that Ed seemed to have a lot of unhappiness around him, and I suppose that is true. He certainly had problems in his life that had recently dominated his thinking. Yet he seemed hopeful and ready to make a change and I believed and hoped that he had many happier years ahead.
A year that started with such positive energy for me, and I think for him, has suddenly turned grey and cold. My consolation is the hope that that these two fine, handsome, strong men are still dancing together somewhere – enjoying a Tennant’s, a “wee Goldie” and laughing at the rest of us.
Godspeed bhoys…