As detailed in the last post, October 2008 was turning into a month of deep emotional reactions to my experience with kidney failure and dialysis. It was about to get deeper.
I think it was Monday the thirteenth that I came into work after dialysis. One of the managers was due back after a week of vacation, I was greeted with the news of his unexpected death. Charles was a few years younger than I was, but he had died alone in his apartment from a massive heart attack. While Charles did not live a retiring lifestyle, the news came as a great shock, he was not a man who was used to backing down to much of anything. A few days later we received news of the unexpected death of a former colleague who had long been a fixture on the local wine scene. Mike was 56 when he died, the same age I had been when I started dialysis.
Both men were mourned at gatherings of friends and colleagues. Many bottles of wine were shared with tales and memories. The service for Mike was on Saturday, October 25. The following day, some of us from the store gathered Sunday afternoon with Charles' family and friends for a meal and a time together to celebrate and remember. The month had started with deep reflections and the realization that I was living on borrowed time. The death of two friends drove the point into my heart.
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