Sad

He was one of our best friends.  Now he is dying.  Of lung cancer.  Was a smoker.  Why do people smoke?  Why? 

We met through our children many years ago and he and his wife became lifelong friends.  We visited them on their boat on the Big Rideau and had so many laughs I can't count.  Over the years, our children drifted apart, came together again, but the four of us remained fast friends.  We spent many New Year's Eves together, enjoyed lots of boozy dinner parties and BBQs and confided in each other about everything. 

This is the fourth good friend we will be losing.  The first was Mike Copeland, my best childhood friend.  He succumbed to alcoholism.  Then it was John Munro.  He succumbed to complete organ failure.  Then it was his wife, Heather.  She succumbed to........everything.....basically her lifestyle.  They were all smokers.  I think also of my good friend "D" here in Calgary, a smoker who is also dying of lung/brain/liver cancer. 

As B's grandson said this summer, "Smoking is yukky".  Smoking, my friends, is a very bad idea.