Survival UK Forums

I lost a good friend this past weekend.

It was not sudden, he had been fighting heart disease for 5 years, but it was a disappointment.

This was a computer buddy, much like we exist here, except that I had met this man in person and we had shared campfires, conversation and good Bourbon for a long weekend several years back, just before he developed the condition that killed him.

He was a historical camper, a modern camper, shooter, reloader, hunter of things furred and feathered and the vessel of untold stores gathered for a lifetime. We swapped information, experiences and equipment for 8 years and, once more, I feel the loss of a person that can not be replaced.

We exist here on the internet as phantoms in the either. We appear, we comment, sometimes we argue, then we are gone and often no one knows if we just moved along, died at the keyboard, or perhaps vanished into the matrix one sad day when we punched the "enter key" too hard.

Just take it for granted that if I do not appear here for a long period of time I am dead.

But never fear. My ashes will be sprinkled on the local waters and my essence will be carried down the Mississippi River to the ocean where I will become one with the Gulf Stream, and part of my remains will eventually pollute the shores of your little island.

I keep telling everyone that I am gong to get over there one day.

The thing i notice most...as time passes by... the ever increasing visits to all types of churches in a 25 mile radius and a visit to the graveyard or more popular the crematorium ....i have said farewell to quite a few friends lately ....and it can only get more frequent ....you get to wonder when you'r turn/time is due....to meet the big guy or do we go into.... resetting of the soul ....and shovelled back into the mixer ready for the next trip ? as paddy said to Murphy on landing in the Sahara ....focking big job this ! .....lets fock off before they deliver the cement...comon away !.....i have had some good luck with regards friends most of which have enriched my life in one way or another ....i still feel good vibrations every time they splash through my memory banks especially when i'm out in the garden doing this and that....coming on to computer /internet friends i like to think i have a few here on SUK (the only site i do) ...What ....thank f... i hear you say .....no as in any life pursuit you have to apply yourself and work through it, be loyal to it and listen to others even when you appose their view.....often you gain....sometimes even change your view or at least gain more understanding of others.....corny sh.t i know ....its an age thang.....i appreciate you All .................but mostly me.

Sorry to hear that. As I get older I see more and more falling by the way.

Sorry for your loss.

In the last four months i have been to seven funerals, one was a close friend of fourth years my age, one was a cousin in his eighties, the other five were younger. As SS says age is a sly bastard that creeps up on you and he grinds you down.

(4 April 2018, 15:49)Pete Grey Wrote: [ -> ]In the last four months i have been to seven funerals, one was a close friend of fourth years my age, one was a cousin in his eighties, the other five were younger. As SS says age is a sly bastard that creeps up on you and he grinds you down.

Sorry, a close friend of forty years.

One of the things that has been disturbing to me has been my move away from my old home area 15 years ago.

I did not stay in contact with many of my friends from old times and now I try to contact them and find an obituary notice where their contact information used to reside.

I must have been running with a really unhealthy bunch because most of them are gone now.

I've been lucky that a few old friends from long ago found me on the Internet and we now talk on the phone regularly, exchange photos, hunting and fishing stories. Seems like most, like me are now retired, although one fellow who was the younger brother of a classmate is still working the farm in Oregon, but with recent political goings on, is trying to sell the place and is looking to move either to Missouri or Texas, where he has kinfolk.

I have kept up with only a few of my older friends and neighbors in the DC area, and nobody from my work.
If they didn't listen to me than, I don't expect them to pay attention to my advice now.

Agree with MB that the very best companions are those with whom you have shared many campfires, occasional black powder smoke and good bourbon whilst listening to baying hounds, tree toads and hoot-owls.

Amen to that.

there is nothing certain in life EXCEPT death and taxes.