RIP to a Good Man

Among my colorful cast of college friends, there's one fellow who's cut off all contact with us. I'll call him Jeff, since that's his name. Dr. Eric and I met Jeff when he transferred back to UM from Tulane, after a semester lost due to mononucleosis. Jeff was hilarious, in an extremely self deprecating sort of way, and quickly joined our band of merry pre meds. Dr. Barry really took a shine to him. Jeff's Dad was David, a man who always welcomed us warmly into his West Kendall house. David owned a succesful printing business, which he started after returning from Korea and then attending UM on the GI bill. He married Faith, and they had Jeff and his younger brother Bernie. David was classic old school Jewish Dad. He adored his sons, and pushed the envelope to be able to say "My son the doctor; my son the lawyer." Bernie went to UF and UF Law, reluctantly. His Dad pushed him, but at the end, Bernie never took the Bar exam. He followed his love of science fiction, and ultimately ended up managing his brother's medical practice. Jeff DID want to become a doc, but it was a tough path. He got rejected by several med schools, but then went up to UF for a year program where you take science classes to show you can handle them at a graduate level. It paid off; he was accepted to UM Med school a year later. He married a nursing student he met in Gainesville, and they were married in South Carolina, where Jeff was doing a residency. Wifey and I drove to Charleston for the wedding, with a nearly 3 year old D1 in the car seat, singing songs the entire trip. Wifey was pregnant with D2, and from my Mazda 626's primitive car phone, learned that D2 was, in fact, fated to be D2, instead of S1. Jeff settled North of ORlando, where he started a succesful GI practice. In an exquisite twist, this one friend who had the lowest pre med and probably med school grades ended up the richest of my doctor friends. Through some snooping a few years back, I learned he has substantial real estate holdings up in Central Florida. For reasons none of us is really sure of, he completely cut off contact with all of us. Did he feel slighted by Eric and Barry's superior academic success? That wouldn't account for me -- I got Cs in the sciences, and took a path to the Humanities. Jeff and MArilyn had a son who is now a junior in an Ivy League college, and a second son, who was born with an awful genetic disorder. But other than holiday cards -- no contact from Jeff. I was a customer of his Dad's, though. Even though he charged three times the going rate, I proudly used Dave for my law firms's printing, back in those stone ages where law firms needed a printer. David moved to Central Florida, though, and that was my opportunity to switch to the cheaper Cuban printer... Well, through the wonder of FaceBook (tm), I kept indirectly in touch. Jeff's wife, mother, and brother all friended me, so I saw the family's growth and accomplishments. And then, last night, Faith messaged me to tell me David had died. I'm guessing he was in his mid 80s. I thought back to the pool parties and barbecues he hosted for us. I remembered graduation from college. Eric and his family, and Jeff and his family and my mother and some date all went to Steak and Ale on 97th Avenue. None of us was wealthy enough for a higher level restaurant, but I remember how proud the 5 parents were. I was annoyed at my mother that she brought a date. My father was the one who should have been there -- he had died a year before. But my Mom didn't want to be alone, I guess. David G led a toast. He was beaming. His boy Jeff had graduated college, his alma mater, no less, and his younger son was on the path. He was a good man. A good Dad. RIP, David.