Goodbye ?

Christmas day was a fairly quiet affair. Travelled a whole 20 Kms to see a friend from long ago and one I hadn't seen for a few years. Met him in Vietnam and later was best man at his wedding. Sort of kept in contact, but after his son left home for the big wide world, Tom took up farming in a serious form and spent most of his time away.

Guess it's about 3 years since I saw him last, in fact, I fixed up his computer and caught up with a lot of events and yarned of yesterday. He was dead keen to document his experiences of Vietnam and had endless number of archival projects going.

Seen his wife a few times and caught up with his news, but it never prepared me for the shock of seeing him yesterday. He was drawn and had no body tone and had lost a lot of weight. Barely recognized him and he never mentioned Vietnam once. It was the farm and whether his son would be interested in it. John Donne came to mind

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

We said our farwells, they are always the same in my mind "We must all get together some time...", but we never have, not since 1970 when they were married.