Pumpkin time is here!

I've had the fall blues thus far, so my blog has suffered.
This year particularly with all the drought and heat and humidity was just one shower to the next for some relief,...but the weather is breaking now, the humidity is going away, and the temperature is moderating to a nice chilly 75 degrees in the mornings.
Fall is a time for Pumpkins, Holloween, little rug rats pounding on my doorbell wanting a candy handout, college football, professional football, the world series (GO Red Sox!)and the disappearance of the tourists (thank God! We got your money go the hell home!)but it also has some "down" memories this year as a result of last years "rash" of sudden deaths of a few dear friends about this time.
Yeah, yeah, life goes on, life is for the living, and all those other platitudes of reality. But we really do need to remember,...actually we really don't need to remember so much as we need to never forget those firends, loved ones and family that have passed on.
Now yesterday afternoon about 4:30 I stopped at the Pub for a pint (I know,..who da thunk it?) and ran into a girl I've known for about ten years, she's married, has a couple of kids, one particular daughter (23 years old) who is a "meth head" and is giving her hell, and she's an "Annual" person for a landscape company (that means she has a knack for planting colorful flowers and arrangements for the "big" clients who have the money and just want "some extra color, you know something to 'Pop' out at you.")
But I digress. Lynn and her sidekick, Vicky were just having a cold beer and I joined them as none of out "regular crew" had yet arrived. After a few pleasantries and some idle chit-chat there was a minute of silence and as I turned my head I noticed Lynn was all teary eyed with a couple running down her cheek. I figured (dumb guy thing I know)she was upset about her daughter as she had made a couple of comments about her a little earlier. So I tried to cheer her up a bit and said something like, "She'll grow up soon Lynn, don't take it so hard, she's really not a bad kid." And she teared up alittle more and looked at me and said "I'm not worried about her,...but I just thought about seeing you here sipping your Guinness, but no Mikie beside you. God I miss that guy! he was a real human being."
I had been thinking about Mikie a lot becasue we're coming up on the first anniversary of his death next week, ...and I too miss my buddy.
Later in the early evening as I was sitting at the Pub with a few friends, old and new, it was alomst a collective thought from at least a dozen of us at the same time about my good buddy Mikie's passing a year ago. So we've collectively decided that Wednesday of this week we are all going to meet at "The Whales Tale" beach bar and hoist a shot of Sambuca for Mikie at 5 p.m.,...just to let him know we all still care, and we all still want to remember how much joy, silliness, just "being Mikie" he brought to all of us. For those of you who can't make it,...just pause at 5pm, lift a shot of Sambuca and say "To you Mikie,...we still miss you. Godspeed my friend."
I'm not being "morose", but simply trying to make the point that as we go on with life it is really incumbent on us to remember ALL those who make it possible for us. We remember the soldiers, the teachers, the business friends, the relatives, the ones who are all obvious, but when you are touched by someone who is simply a "friend" , asking nothing, giving everything, and always there for someone else, amidst thier own trails and tribulations,.....well, they deserve a special rememberance.
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