Tom

My very good friend Tom passed away yesterday. We met some six years ago because we walked our dogs along the same canal. He was old guard Bishop (in his 70s, white, native) and I was new guard Bishop (in my 30s, ethnic, transplant), and we got on like a house on fire. We must have been quite a sight towards the end, buddies chatting about everything, he in his electric buggy and me pushing Wyatt alongside in the stroller.

Tom was a very understated man, but he taught me about honesty, fairness, and kindness. He had a wonderful gentle sense of humor. It didn't hurt that he had twinkly twinkly blue eyes.

When Tom was diagnosed with ALS, I told him that the boy and I would be his friends through thick and thin. I think we were. He graced us both with his humor and care until the end.

Wyatt won't remember all the times that Tom indulged Wyatt by letting him play with the hospital bed controls or by letting him terrorize Didi and Holly, the two family dogs, but I will.

I will miss him terribly.