Old friends, old friends
Sat on their park bench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes of the old friends
Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends
Can you imagine us years from today?
Sharing a park bench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy
Old friends, memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears
Time it was and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you
SONGWRITERS
SIMON, PAUL
PUBLISHED BY
PUBLISHED BY
LYRICS © UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
I’ve been quiet
for the past week. I’ve been attempting
to come to terms with a profound loss.
The friend with
whom I have had the longest continuous bond in my life passed through the veil
last week. Her death was quite
unexpected though she’d had end-stage renal disease for years. She was on home hemodialysis, and waited
hopefully for a transplant that never came.
Kathe was a well-respected member of the renal patient advocacy
community, working most recently for the Northeast Kidney Foundation. In the course of her work, and of her
disease, she met hundreds of other kidney patients, spoke before the FDA, CMS,
and many community and professional organizations, met with legislators, and
travelled over the entire country in the service of others.
When her disease started to get her down, she
took a course in clowning, and Kismet the clown was born – Kismet brought joy
and laughter to ill and well alike at children’s hospitals, nursing homes, and
fundraising events. In an article
published (May 6th, 2013) in the national magazine Woman’s World about her clowning activities,
Kathe was quoted as saying “Life is absolutely what we make of it.” She made a whole lot out of it! Here she is, as Kismet, with her friend, Sidney the Kidney.
Kathe and I met
well over 40 years ago in Junior High School.
As teens, we were inseparable much of the time. We walked to school together every day, slept
over at one another’s homes, stayed up all night laughing and talking, dyed one
another’s hair (hideously I’m afraid), made homemade tanning oil, read the same
books, swooned over the same boys… the list goes on. Upon graduation from high school, we headed
off to the same college, albeit with different majors, and graduated the same
year. Even when our paths diverged,
whenever we managed to get together, it was as though we had never been apart. She was a bridesmaid at my first wedding,
Godmother to my daughter, and there for the second wedding as well. To say that I loved her would be an
understatement.
She’s been
mentioned indirectly on this blog a couple of times. I once bought an antique bottle for her which
had held a patent medicine “kidney cure”, and I had intended to give one of my
little house quilts to her. I will miss
her so very much, as will her wonderful husband and her many, many other
friends and acquaintances.
If you are
reading these words, please consider becoming an organ donor, and, if you are in a
position to do so, donate to the kidney cause of your choice. Many thanks, and if you knew Kathe, please
feel free to post a memory in the comments.
