Goodbye Old Friend

Last Thursday my old buddy Howard passed away at the age of 84. He was a part of what has been called America's greatest generation, the WWII veterans. I had the privilege of spending three wonderful days with Howard and a bus load of WWII veterans in Washington, D.C. And I consider it to be one of the top ten things I've ever done in my life. The stories he told me, the thoughts he shared about war and life were priceless, he was quite a guy. When you met Howard there were two things you learned immediately, he love for his wife Kate (who had already passed) and his patriotism. I met him through my wife who had hired him as a people greeter for Wal-Mart years ago and after our first meeting it was an instant friendship. He showed me all of his WWII memorabilia, videos, pictures and his prize possession, a detailed diary he had kept during the war. Howard had become our adopted grandfather and many times the wife and kids ate with him at his favorite lunch spot...Chick-fil-A while I was at work and then sometimes he cook us his favorite recipe, beef stew. I took this picture of him with his old camera and photos of his wife in the background one afternoon at his house, just a quick shot nothing special, but to me it says a lot. See you on the other side old buddy.