Sh*t got real. This is the first person I knew who died of CV-19.

[no_hypocrisy]

I met him in first grade 55 years ago. White blonde hair, a wide grin with a glimmer of mischief. The bane of the existence of several elementary teachers. Ironically, he was often restricted to "The Box," a yellow lined rectangle painted on the blacktop of our school's playground when he misbehaved. (The punishment was you couldn't run around the playground and there would be hell if you left The Box.)

While we didn't run in the same social circles, I kept abreast of where he was, what he was doing. He even married a mutual friend.

He died in the hospital in his sleep after three days of fighting for his life.

I just shared comforting words on FB to his widow. They were appreciated but I'm sure they weren't enough.

[samnsara]

1. Im so sorry for your loss....

[empedocles]

2. That 'close to home' emotional impact, is going to hit many, and make big differences,

in the days to come.

[gibraltar72]

3. Lost a guy who umpired my son's little league games.

Often disagreed then, but he was a good guy. As I recall he umpired our league championship game. It was regular kids against hand picked rich kids. He was fair but I felt he was happy when the real kids won.

[onecaliberal]

4. I'm sorry for your loss.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Words are never enough, but they help...

[CTyankee]

6. I've never seen so many pages in the obituary section of our local paper...

Mercifully, I did not know any of them.

I've never seen anything like it. My kids, now in their early 50s, lived through the AIDS crisis...my youngest daughter was in the room with this friend when he died. He had his closest friends and his parents with him. His last words were "This is going to be interesting."

I grieved for my daughter's grief. It seemed so unnatural to lose those friends in her own generation to that cruel disease.

[MiniMe]

7. I don't wish anybody harm or death, but I truly hope that some of these idiotic protesters get to

get to experience that feeling.

[csziggy]

9. I doubt that many of them have the empathy to truly grieve. nt

[Aristus]

8. ...