Cousins

These little boys, cousins, and friends grew up to be handsome men. Sweet men with good hearts. Honorable men. Fathers, grandfathers. Sweethearts, lovers and the heart beat of their wives. See the guy on the left. He's mine.

These little boys played together in the '40s when life was simpler. They could ride across town, a couple of miles, to each others houses with a BB gun in the bike basket, waving to the policemen along the way. They could each tell stories for hours about the "good old days", but that isn't what is post is about. I will save the good old stories for another time.

These little boys have each endured the hardships and problems along life's highway that beset everyone, but none are as difficult as the one hanging over their heads. You see, sickness has plagued one of the little boys. It is hard to accept and even harder to understand. Just when they have their lives together, retired or soon to be retired, when the fruits of their labor are ripe for the picking, life throws a curve ball. Something that has to faced head on. These little boys came together this weekend to laugh and remember. To quietly love without ever saying the word love.

I think these little boys would tell us to be happy, to live each moment as if it was the last, to laugh and to love even if the word love is never spoken. They know....they know.