I'm thinking of you...

I'm saying goodbye, I sure hope you can hear me Bill. You left us this morning surrounded, as usual, by love. A  richly deserved, well earned and continuous love. You were pretty lucky that way. A little something for you to smile about and to be envied for.

That forever smile is what will be missed the most. Your ability to bring a chuckle from pain can not be replaced. Being taken into your family was something I cherished and having the good fortune to share that smile so often is a memory I'll carry forward. Happily, you passed that trait to your children...to smile, to laugh and to persevere. Pretty good things to be remembered for.

Now, as you take your smile and devilish grin to a more exalted level you might pause and remember how it always took you so long to get home from the airport and tell all around you, "You can call me anything you want, but don't call me Father, here!" Just one story of you that will remain with me.

Rest easy, old friend.