Three shots to the psyche…

This past week has not been a good one to be my friend. First my cousin Frankie passed away after a long fight against cancer. The cancer was from the agent orange he came into contact with during the Vietnam War. The same war that shaped him and greatly influenced his entire life after. The Army helped him discover his talent for learning languages, which he used as a soldier, and then as a business man in Asia. He spend a large part of his life in Asia, doing deals and creating among other things a feature film in the Philippines, Olongapo . He most recently self published a book about his Vietnam experience. Cousin Frankie lived like no other man I’ve known. He packed at least three regular lives into his one.

After hearing about my cousin I got the bug to try and reconnect with an old friend who moved from Hawaii some years back. Bud Cerio was introduced to me by my very good friend Josephine. Bud was a incredibly talented guitar player and just as incredibly cool. Bud was as talented as his stature...and his stature was large. I took guitar lesson from him for nearly 3 years. A lesson with Bud was not the structured thing of a regimented learning program. Bud would ask me what I wanted to learn to play. He would listen to it, and before I knew it I was playing it. Sometimes he would suggest something to make me stretch and learn something new. But each 30 minute lesson turned into an up to 2 hour jam or exploration of life, music, or anything happening in our lives. Gracious, talented, & very, very humble. I felt a real sadness when my Google search uncovered this piece .

Finally, as I scanned the newspaper yesterday I found a obituary of my old Hawaii Bicycling League colleague Frank Denton. We both served on the HBL board during an especially difficult time (not that any time has been easy). Frank had a can do attitude, and would always have a suggestion seasoned with a solid business man’s flair. After our time on the board, I would frequently run into him at the bank. We’d chat and discuss HBL and our businesses. I hadn’t seen Frank since I relocated my business to Kalihi last year. Perhaps Frank will join John Kelly for a bike ride in the great beyond, Frank on a touring bike and John on his triathlon rig. A memorial is scheduled for tomorrow at Murphy’s.

Time on this blue marble is short. Even if you have a faith that there is a life after this turn on the mortal spiral…leaving it and seeing friends & family leave it is sad and can shake you up. Nothing here is permanent. Nothing here is permanent…maybe it’s time to act with that knowledge.