Saturday, July 30, 2011
Three quick updates:
1) I’ve learned through a new SoldiersHomeStories.com reader that Ben, Mike’s former roommate, has died. Ben and his wife, Faith, came to Mike’s service; she’s the one who handed me the almost-unbearably sweet homemade sympathy card. Faith had told me before I left on vacation that Ben was dying. She carried photos of him with her everywhere. I’m hoping she’ll loan me one so I can pay tribute to him here.
2) I sent my news tip about the impending changes at the Soldiers Home to several editors at The Seattle Times, where I work part-time. Strangely, the next day, The News Tribune ran a front-page story—but, in my humble journalistic opinion, toed a little too closely to the “official line.” Nonetheless, it does set out some facts; see for yourself at www.thenewstribune.com/2011/07/26/1759175/soldiers-home-near-orting-preparing.html.
3) I am really, really missing Mike lately. I think I still expected to see him after our vacation, as if we’d just been apart a month. Back at that first Bingo session, when a tall, lanky guy walked through the Bingo room, I actually thought for half a second: Mike? The good news: I am starting to “see” Mike more clearly, and hear his voice, without the disturbingly haunting image of the last time we visited him, just three days before he died.
Three quick updates:
1) I’ve learned through a new SoldiersHomeStories.com reader that Ben, Mike’s former roommate, has died. Ben and his wife, Faith, came to Mike’s service; she’s the one who handed me the almost-unbearably sweet homemade sympathy card. Faith had told me before I left on vacation that Ben was dying. She carried photos of him with her everywhere. I’m hoping she’ll loan me one so I can pay tribute to him here.
2) I sent my news tip about the impending changes at the Soldiers Home to several editors at The Seattle Times, where I work part-time. Strangely, the next day, The News Tribune ran a front-page story—but, in my humble journalistic opinion, toed a little too closely to the “official line.” Nonetheless, it does set out some facts; see for yourself at www.thenewstribune.com/2011/07/26/1759175/soldiers-home-near-orting-preparing.html.
3) I am really, really missing Mike lately. I think I still expected to see him after our vacation, as if we’d just been apart a month. Back at that first Bingo session, when a tall, lanky guy walked through the Bingo room, I actually thought for half a second: Mike? The good news: I am starting to “see” Mike more clearly, and hear his voice, without the disturbingly haunting image of the last time we visited him, just three days before he died.
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