Doug Smith
July 1, 1955 - May 7, 2013
Hey, old friend
Are you okay, old friend?
What do you say, old friend
Are we or are we unique?
Time goes by, everything else keeps changing
You and I we get continued next week.
Most friends fade
Or they don't make the grade
New ones are quickly made
And in a pinch, sure, they'll do
But us old friend what's to discuss old friend?
Here's to us,
Who's like us?
Damn few.
Those lyrics were written by Steven Sondheim for a musical called, "Merrily We Roll Along." Somehow, I've always felt that they were the theme song of Doug's and my friendship.
There are no pictures of Doug and I from our days at Pius. Times were different then. There were no cell phones with cameras to chronicle our lives. But you know what? We didn't need them. I have a million beautiful images in my mind of our friendship: painting scenery with Schwang, sitting together in chapel everyday for mass, Fiddler and Dolly, our mutual love for Martin & Lewis, strange words like "Whooha" that we made up and how we would laugh hysterically when either one of us said them, how Doug wrote down every "diddle deedle diddle do" in "If I Were a Rich Man" from the cast album of "Fiddler on the Roof" just so I would get it right. Pictures? Who needs them? I've got memories! I know that many years went by between high school and when Doug and I reconnected on Facebook. But I think we were always in each others hearts, at least Doug was in mine, so those years really just seemed like days instead. Doug was my best friend and my brother. With Doug's passing, I feel that something inside of me has died. I will never forget you, my brother. Pictures can fade but those beautiful images of you will live in my heart forever!
So, old friend
Fill me in slow, old friend
Start from hello, old friend,
I want the when, where and how.
Old friends do
Tend to become old habit
Never knew
How much I missed you till now.
Most friends fade
Or they don't make the grade.
New ones are quickly made,
Some of them worth something, too.
But us, old friend
What's to discuss, old friend?
Here's to us,
Who's like us?
Damn few.
