I was a pall bearer for one of my best friends. He smoked himself into heart disease and had a heart attack and died. That makes a long story short.

Before he passed away I was on the phone with him and he seemed disinterested in our conversation and I think its because he felt we had both moved on to other people and things. I hated to give him up but it was what it was.

Not long afterwards he died. His wife asked me to be a pall bearer and I agreed.

I often wonder if he would have approved. He no longer wanted to pursue our friendship and in many ways I don’t blame him but there I was t his funeral bearing his pall with other friends and relatives.

He was a decorated Vietnam veteran and for a few years I put a American flag in the flower vase on his grave. No one else in his family or friends did that. I did it until I just quit.

Life can be great or sad depending on our circumstances with death being the ultimate destroyer of everything about it. He’s been dead for many years but in my old age I often think about this with regret.