MY FRIEND

I am losing a friend. He is a very close friend. I have not known him for very long. I have friends that have been close to me for almost 70 years. This is a new friend when you think of the years. He has been my friend for 2 or 3 years. He is a close friend. He and his wife visited our Sunday School Class a couple of years ago. There were two seats empty beside my wife and me. He sat down beside me and shook my hand. I said welcome to our class. He didn’t say much but neither did I. We listened to the Teacher. We spoke after class and I introduced my wife and met his wife. We didn’t see them until the next Sunday. He took his seat beside me. That’s when we became friends. We have Wednesday night services at our church. Most Southern Baptist Churches have Wednesday night services. We have a meal and then a lesson taught by our Pastor. Someone else was sitting beside me at the table so we pulled up an extra seat. He sat beside me and his wife sat beside my wife. It was vacation time so all four of us went on vacation. We had a wonderful two week vacation in Hawaii. He didn’t have a lot to say while we were on vacation. He was quiet. He and his wife are great people. They love the Lord. We returned from vacation and settled in to our normal routine. Then his wife called me on the phone. My friend was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. As I write this, there are tears in my eyes. They spill over and run down down my cheeks. They fall on the keyboard. I can’t talk about it. I can write the words but I can’t say them. When I try to talk about it my voice breaks and I cry. I am afraid that he is going to be gone soon. I just got home from Church tonight. I thought about him as I sat at the table. During the Pastor’s prayer I pressed my napkin to my eyes and I cried. I’m going to visit him tomorrow. I want to give him a hug before he slips away.