Got a call from my dad this morning. The weekend paper reported in the obituaries the passing of a childhood friend at age 49. This brought back the memories of when we were kids.

I grew up in the country and there weren’t many kids my age nearby. Our next door neighbor had a son my age and a daughter two years older. Along with my middle brother, the four of us spent a lot of time together making forts, daming creeks, playing in treeforts and generally being outside. My family lives in a suburban neighboorhood. With Sara’s passing leading to the recollection of childhood memories, I can’t help but wonder how we’re doing in raising our children? On the plus side, my son has lots of friends within a block or two. Where I grew up, two houses weren’t even that close. We played outdoors most of the time. Now the kids play inside on the computer. Are we creating a generation of ‘Nintendo Babies’? I wonder.

Sara will be missed although its been nearly 30 years since we last played but the memories were good. To die so young, I thought it was cancer. And it was, sort of. As her oldest brother put it, she died of ‘liquid cancer’ – alcoholism. The family had made efforts over the years to help her but without success. I didn’t know this until this afternoon.

This blog now has two deaths reported and one last month that I did not write about. This is going to be an increasing occurrence for all of us of the ‘baby boom’ generation. Not only with the passing of parents but the passing of friends. Ouch.