Major General Nate Lindsay went home to be with the Lord on Memorial Day, 2015.
I drove our friends Nate and Shirley to the Denver Airport today. It is the last time I will see Nate in Colorado; he is moving into a care facility in California next week.
I have had several good "closure" times with Nate over the past few days. He helped me clean up stuff around my house one day (he's great at that!); we did part of a puzzle together and drove around listening to country music; we walked that dogs a couple of times; Susy brought him to a baseball games I was umpiring; and I drove him to the airport today.
That last thing I said to Nate at the curbside was, "I salute you General. I love you." And then gave him a hug and he and Shirley walked into the terminal. I determined not to break down crying right then, but I drove a few hundred yards from the terminal and pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road. And had a really good, hard cry. Boy, it actually felt refreshing to cry that hard.
Then I called Susy and told her about saying goodbye to Nate and we had a good cry on the phone together. Phew, I'm tired!
I plan to see Nate as often as I can when I am out in Los Angeles. But today is the end of a season for us. We won't be driving up the hill to bring Nate for a walk, he won't be coming to our house to play with the dogs, we won't do puzzles together, and I probably won't listen to country music again for a very long time!
If this sounds depressing, it is not actually. It is good and right for Nate to be in a care facility and I understand it is a great place. I am confident, along with his family, that he can do well there. And yet I am left with a big hole in my life, and I feel sad. But it's a good sad.
So ... I salute you General Lindsay ... You are indeed a very good man.
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