An Ode to Sam (1918 to 2014): For Many Years

1989

For Many Years

I knew Sam For Many Years

He was the quiet Man in the Room

Many Years ago, Sam and Babe gave us money to help buy a House

And For Many Years, we lived in that house

For Many Years, Sam and I did projects around that house

For Many Years, that meant two (often more) trips to the hardware store

Sometimes we went together, sometimes not.

The projects always got done

For Many Years, each year Sam and I spent sometimes two, sometimes three or four holidays together, and often other weekends too

For Many Years, Sam and I were together more than Bert and I were together (except for the years with baseball trips and the Olympics)

For Many Years, Sam and I played cribbage and For Many Years I won more games than I lost (except if you asked Sam, who quietly thought otherwise)

For Many Years, Sam was the quiet man in the room

Then once and only once, many years ago, Sam got very loud

We never talked about it afterwards

For Many Years, Sam and I shared a love of literature, fiction and non

For Many Years, Sam got first pick of the books I passed along

For Many Years, Sam went to the library, and in return he quietly passed along his recommendations

For many many years, Sam quietly offered us financial help: mostly at tax time

For many years we said no, and then one year, recently, we said yes and Sam quietly sent money

For many years, Sam followed the blog. Early on, Sam made his only quiet comment: How come he always describes every meal and how much it costs?

For many years, “THB” often quoted Sam’s only comment

For many years, you never heard Sam complain, even when you knew he was hurting

For Many Years, Sam was the quiet man in the room

He’s in this room, sitting quietly in the background

Where he’ll be For Many Years