Saturday, September 6, 2008

Tuesday Toast for Floyd

Here we are in Spokane, Washington without my dad. It is surreal actually. I keep expecting him to appear any moment. To me Spokane will always be about my dad even though I have so many other wonderful people that I love here.

We're here this week because Kathleen launched her book tour for the paperback edition of "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry" in Spokane mostly because my dad insisted she do it. The turnout at Auntie's bookstore - a crowd almost entirely made up of friends of my father's or mine from my high school days at Mead - really got a treat. Kat is a wonderful speaker and provided an intimate picture of the process and thoughts that went into her memoir. I was so happy to see so many old friends come out and attend.

Friday, Floyd's dearest friend in Spokane, Frank Trutton, arranged a pool tournament in his honor. He even printed up shirts. What a great guy. His friend Rick brought the trophy which had "Floyd Klozar" listed as the last winner of the tournament. I was very proud. We had a wonderful time seeing all of these friends together again. My second family, the Coles, were there in force and I was thrilled Kevin Langford and his lovely wife Karen made a special effort to be there. It had been many years since I've seen him. They had just suffered the sudden loss of her brother-in-law in a situation eerily similar to that of my dad's loss.

I guess it brings home that our time on earth is not to be wasted. We all agreed that Floyd knew how to get the best of every little moment in life. He would have had a great time tonight. We did.

Here's to you Floyd. You'll never by forgotten.