Ode To My Best Friend

I  wrote this as a Letter To The Editor on New Year’s Day, 1998.  On Monday of this week I lost my best friend, John Lambeth.  This letter sums up how we felt about each other:

The recent deaths of two pairs of best friends made me stop and appreciate what I have.

The first was a couple of Irishmen, one Catholic, one Protestant, killed simultaneously in a pub blast. The news story said they’d been best friends since childhood.

The very same week two preachers were killed by a drunk driver here in the States. Likewise, news reports say they’d been inseparable since childhood.

My best friend/mainmost fishing partner and I don’t go back quite that far. Just to June of 1981.

But, I think we’re just as close.

Not too long ago he and I and his wife were talking at a party and he said, “Wife, you know who I love more than you?”

She said, “No, sir.”

“He said, “Nobody. You know who I love next, after you? This guy,” he said, one arm around her shoulder and one around mine.

Best friends. It’s a pretty special thing.

I hope you have one.

See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.

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