A Tribute to...
My mom works for a nursing home, she's a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and alot of the residents there love her to death. She becomes good friends with several of them.
So it's always sad to hear of one of them passing away, and the story is definitely no different with a man she met named Mr. Keller, whom I also had the priviledge of meeting once, and talked to on the phone several times. That doesn't happen often, I usually don't meet the residents she works with.
Mr. Keller is having trouble. He's 91 years old, and his kidney dyalisis isn't working. I won't go into details about the mans condition since it's really his business and his business alone, but I will say that in retrospect of everything going on, he's passing away soon.
So I wanted to make this tribute to Mr. Keller, even if he never sees it, in hopes that maybe if there's something after life he'll know how appreciative I am of his friendship with my mother, and that I think he will be truly and greatly missed by more than just his family. Far more.
As my mom and I always said, "That man's a mess." And he is. He's so funny, kind, and very smart.
I would say I hope he gets better, but kidney failure is a guarantee, and so is what else he has, so the man doesn't have much longer on this Earth.
My only regret is not giving him the last note I'd written for him, but I know that wasn't possible really since he's been in and out of the hospital.
He told me to call him Granddaddy...I've only ever had one granddaddy and he died when I was 9. So obviously you can see that we got along very well with the man. Another regret is that I didn't get to know him better than I did.
So, Mr. Keller, even though you can't read this right now, this is all for you.
The story goes, the truth is no one knows
A stranger came, a man who lost his name
At night he tells me his tale, prison, women, wail
They took him in, he let them win
Over and over
He said if you don’t have good words to say
Don’t wake me up until the judgment day
’cause if nothing is the way it seems
Then this life is just a haunted dream
And all this love is just falling down through the years
And oh, I’d rather sleep
Wake me up on judgment day
Let me hear golden trumpets play
Give me life where nothing fails
Not a dream in a wishing well
A man in tattered clothes, crying all he knows
The darkness grows, that’s how it goes
Over and over
He said I think of the beauty I’ve had
And all it does is make me feel so bad
First they make you think you’re riding high
Then they toss you off into the sky
And all this life is just falling down through the years
And oh, I’d rather sleep
Wake me up on judgment day
Let me hear golden trumpets play
Give me life where nothing fails
Not a dream in a wishing well
Say a prayer for the stranger
Listen to the stranger
Wake me up on judgment day
Let me hear golden trumpets play
Give me life where nothing fails
Not a dream in a wishing well