Many of you might remember my stories about Mark (Pod was his knickname) from past posts – the first time I talked about him, the time he mowed down my flowers, or the time that he fell off the porch and broke his crown...
Pod was my neighbor, but more importantly my friend. He was always telling me how beautiful I am, making me blush, and telling Chris what a lucky man he is. He watched over our house during the day, and was always willing to help. I’ll never forget our many trips to the grocery store, going out to lunch on veterans day, or helping him build shelves in his new room that finally allowed him proper shelter. He was always wanting a hug. Hell, he’s making kissy-faces at me in that damn picture above, taken last summer. I sure will miss that.
Pod was not very old, perhaps late 50s, but he had a hard life. A few weeks ago, he learned that he had contracted hepatitis C. He asked me if I would help him write a will and get his legal papers into order. I told him I’d be happy to, and to bring over all of the necessary info and we’d get it done. We never had the chance.
Pod wasn’t nearly sick enough from the hepatitis for that to be what took him (in my opinion). We’ll see what the results from the autopsy say, I guess. I’m guessing that he had an aneurysm. Shirl, the lady he was living with, said that they had had a very good night, and that he was in good spirits and at peace with himself. He went to bed happy and never woke up. I take a lot of comfort in that. Pod had a lot of hard times and emotionally painful times, so I am so glad that he was happy at the end. I am so glad that his illness never had the chance to drag him down and make him horribly sick.
I got the call yesterday at noon telling me that he had left us. I put my head down on my desk and sobbed for about ½ hour, and then asked my boss if I could take the afternoon off. He kindly obliged, so I went to Shirl’s house to see what I could do, went to his church to inform them, and did a fair amount of wandering around aimlessly in the rain. It always rains when I lose someone I love, and yesterday it poured all day.
Chris is devastated. They were very close, and loved each other like brothers. It was very quiet around our house last night as friends gathered to share memories of him. I had to tell Johnny the news when he arrived, and he looked like I punched him in the gut when I told him.
I sat there, at the computer, last night trying to start this post. All it seemed I could do was stare at the blank screen, now knowing where to start. As I listened to the rain, I heard an owl hooting, and he told me to let it go for tonight.
I miss you already, Mark. You take care and keep watching over us, buddy.
