Charles Cook

Hey Chuckles, Well my friend, unless Joy brings the Urn of Ashes to Florida and down to the Farm you won't get to visit this year as we had hoped. Darn it!... I know! That totally sucks, yet we do have 55 years of friendship to look back on. I was 6 and you were 8 when you moved in next door to us, and well, that's a lot more than most get. Remember as kids, the sleepover in the treehouse? It was so exciting, like some awesome mission to survive the elements... Hahaha even though it was just in the back yard. Or the Night when we were going to stay up all night, we watched George C Scot in the "Flimflam Man" and drank Shasta Soda. Haha, I think we lasted till 1:00 or so and then called it that, we Officaly stayed up till tomorrow and went to bed. Who could forget our famous camping trip after Fred and I graduated High school at the Farm in Wast Vergina? A week camping in the mountains was a total blast with you and my brother. I think we did permanent damage to your brand new VW Rabit, driving through the tall grass meadows to the upper pastures, finding the ruins of old homesteads gone a hundred years before. The whole thing was just the coolest. All the times we played HORSE with the Basketball in your yard, Or our own version of "Supper Badmitten" with tennis rackets and reenforced Birdies With or without the Net it was still a blast. We played a lot of Ping Pong on your porch, where I also experienced my first ceiling fan. "My God! If you reached up there you could cut your hand off."..."Chuck reach up there and see what happens." Haha, you were to smart for any of that. Even though I was a bit of an ass from time to time, you were ALWAYS MY FRIEND. I never forgot that Chuck. I was so proud of you when you sold all that candy at school for like a year so you could go on the European Class trip. I thought that was amazing and I remember feeling that if you could do that then I could do anything... a few years later in my adolescent euphoria where anything was possible I moved to Miami. It was scary when I realized how unprepared I was when I got here but, you had done the imposable and somehow so would I. Over the years and distance, we kept in touch and had infrequent visits, down here or up there. You were good about sending Cards for B-Days, Christmas and even Easter. Me, not so much. Still from a drawer somewhere, I could produce out half a dozen cards and several cassette mixtapes you made for me & sent to me. You told me once that you would from time to time reach out to my Dad for advice and how it would comfort you to think of him in a fatherly way. He once related to me that he had a sense that was the case and was only too glad to be there for you. My Dad wasn't often a warm fuzzy kind of guy yet he was excellent for both of us in ways and at times that really mattered. When you were having difficulties with mental health issues, I tried my best to understand and keep our friendship while others let you slip away. I don't know how many years I have been keeping in regular phone contact with you, at least 15. "Hey Chuck, I just delivered trees to a Hotel on Miami Beach, I got an hours ride home, Wana chat?" Or I would call you up disguising my voice "I did this a LOT"..."Mr. Cook, this is William Bartholamu from the IRS. There seem's to be some major discrepancies in your accounts and you owe us 20 Million Dollars" Hahaha, You would say immediately in a knowing way "Is this George?" Ha, you got me! You recounted every batch of puppies you had to me on the phone and the different projects you hade going on or in your house, as well as the loss of some of your long time roommates and friends. We had many nice conversations over the last two decades or so. Some times recounting some of the many boneheaded things you or I did in our youth Sometimes just saying hello or to hear a Hello from a friendly voice. All in all, you were my best friend in childhood and a good friend throughout our lives. We shared and related many things yet there is something I never told you.... Thank you, Chuck! Thank you for being a friend to me. Through the years the Best Friend I have had in my 61+ years. Thank you for your listening of me. Thank you for being there. You really made a difference in my life with the simplest thing ever, Friendship. So, God speed to you Chuck and look for me to come screaming into the grave in another 30 or 40 years going a hundred miles an hour with my hair on fire shouting "What an F-ing ride!" Your life long friend, George Bailey P.S. Even though they were quite silly, I chose the Pot Plant photos of us from 1977 to share with the others who check in here These were happy carefree times for us. We hung out nearly every day, it was the heyday of our friendship, just emerging from youth and totally not adults yet. They were so funny even though I caught hell from my Mom when she found out later.