Kindergarten Was A Long Time Ago

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I had a very tumultuous kindergarten. 

You see, there was a kid who lived up the road from us, and way back, more than 50 years ago, I had my first play date at his home.

“Mom, he can write on the walls,” I announced when I got home.

“You aren’t writing on the walls,” she said.

My fascination with Dom’s life continued to grow. He actually swore. Even at his mother. It made me laugh.

On my first day of kindergarten the teacher paired us together to share a locker. Evidently, I was excited by this. I jumped on Dom’s back. He hit the corner of the locker and there was a lot of blood and plenty of stitches.

I always felt badly about that and had a sort of kinship with Dom through the years...

...even as our lives went in completely different directions. I know that he had a lot of problems and suffered a lot of loss in life. His health wasn’t great.

But I thought about him time and again...

...and then...on Wednesday afternoon I got a notification of a friend request:

Dom.

I accepted it. Even typed a message:

“Hope you’re doing well.”

“All good,” he answered.

We didn’t have a lot to say, evidently, but I wasn’t going to broach the subject of checking out our locker assignment.

Then on Saturday, I saw another Facebook post.

Dom was dead.

Sudden heart attack.

I didn’t have to wonder about his age. He was 56.

It struck me as incredibly sad. Of course, he was too young. Yet, I also knew that he really battled hard all his life...

...and he had to always fight a bunch of demons.

He was fishing when it happened, I hear. I also heard that he loved to fish.

Hope he had some great moments. I especially hope his last day was tremendous fun.

Why did he friend request me just 48 or so hours before he was stricken?

Especially after 50 years?

RIP, locker mate.

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