Ed

I met Ed a little over ten years ago. Our first meeting was not a happy one. We met in a funeral home where I came to pay my respects to a friend of mine whose mother had died. Ed is his dad.

Ed was ninety years old when we met. He turns 100 today, November 19, 2017.   Ed is the only person that I have ever know to reach that mark. Ed still lives alone, drives a car, plays golf, and plays poker with a group of us every other week.

His poker buddies are 30 years younger and Ed loves playing with the “kids”. He stays in some hands longer than he should sometimes and has been heard to say, “I’ve got just enough to suck me in”. More importantly, we love playing poker with him. He reminds us through his presence that, we too,  have a lot of good years ahead of us.

Old age looks more promising when you have someone like Ed to emulate. We never discuss this, but I expect that he has become a second father to most of us whose father’s have passed.

He doesn’t hit a golf ball as far as he once did, but he has great putting skills. He plays at a local course several times a week. Most of his peers have passed so he ends up playing with a group of 80 year olds. More kids in his life to hang with.

Last year the poker group was playing one of its annual golf matches and one of the guys couldn’t make it. I asked a friend of mine, Russ, to join us. Russ and Ed played in the same foursome and seventy-three year old Russ told Ed that he had presented his high school diploma to him at his graduation some fifty-five years earlier. Ed was the president of the local school  board and presented all such honors as the students graduated. Small world and a long time.

I think the most interesting thing about Ed is that he still works. While it’s true that he retired in 1984, he bought a couple of machining tools six years prior and put them in his garage. When he “retired”, he started doing contract work for a couple of manufacturers who keep Ed in the game by sending small parts to be processed on a regular basis. He has done this “side job” for over thirty years and continues to do so today. It’s hard to keep a good man down.

Ed has become my hero. As I grow up, I want to be like him. Self sufficient and engaged in activities that I love. While he has slowed down a bit, his life is still active and filled with people he loves and who love him.

Happy birthday Ed.