Walking in Memphis

A few years ago I had ordered product from Ikea to get delivered to my home however it ended up being more of a hassle than it was worth and I went to the delivery companies warehouse to pick it up. So this time when I needed some more shelving units from Ikea I placed an order online at their Memphis location with the plan to pick it up. I had a week off from work, literally the last week of the fiscal year and the last chance to use 2019 vacation time. So we scheduled Gypsy Rover's spay surgery and gave a week to watch her and make sure she healed. We had several plans of things to get done around the house including putting together bookshelves for collectible items that have still been boxed up since I moved.

Of course I wasn't going to just drive to Memphis and pick up the bookshelves. If I was going to lose a day I was going to make it worth it. I checked with the vet to make sure that we would be ok to take Gypsy on a trip. She loves the car and sleeps in it so that was good and I could pick her up and take her out of it so she didn't climb in. So with the vet's approval we aimed to take her out at the end of the week.

Now I knew that we would be limited by having Gypsy Rover with us so I only planned on hitting some outdoor sights so places like the famed Peabody Hotel and the Civil Rights Museum were immediately out of the question.








We had one stop before reaching Memphis and that was a giant praying mantis reading a book outside a library in Jackson, TN.











Next we went to the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Park to see "Cancer... there's Hope". This statue is the work of Victor Salmones who considered it to be his finest. At the back of the labyrinth are five people who represent those suffering from cancer and their caregivers. The front three have left the labyrinth after successful treatment.

Cancer ...  there's Hope"

Near the Memphis Zoo is Veteran's Plaza which has several monuments in it dedicated to soldiers from Memphis and Shelby county who served in several different wars. Among them was a WWI Dough Boy made from melted down pennies collected by children. And a monument to the famed WWII bomber Memphis Belle and its crew.

The Memphis Belle monument was a plaque with an image of the Bomber and it's crew as well as a statue of Margaret Polk, the inspiration for the bomber's name, looking skyward.  Margaret had dated pilot Robert Morgan before his deployment and he named the plane after her. The Memphis Belle flew in 25 European Theater Missions between November 7, 1942 and May 19, 1943. 

Next we stopped by the Galloway Methodist Church where in December of 1954 Johnny Cash, Marshall Grant, and Luther Perkins performed together for the first time for a ladies social club. It was the start of a long career for Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Two.

Then we headed over to a shopping center to visit "Chimes Square". A bell tower had been converted by local artists into a giant wind chime and to keep with the Egyptian theme of Memphis the clapper looks like the eye of Horus. 

That got me wondering a bit about the history of the city and what the connection was to Egypt. The city was once home to the Chickasaw tribe who inhabited most of Western Tennessee. Like many other tribes in the early history of America they were forced to move westward into Arkansas through force and unfair treaties. 

On May 22, 1819 John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson founded Memphis which became the westernmost city in TN. It's location along the bluffs of the Mighty Mississippi, often called the Nile of America, was why the name Memphis was chosen. Memphis had once been one of the most important cities in Ancient Egypt with a location along the powerful river both cities were primed to be centers of industry, commerce, and trade. 

However Memphis' position on the Mississippi also lead to several epidemics of yellow fever. During the 1878 epidemic the population of the city fell to 20,000 with estimates saying of those remaining 17,000 were ill. Those who remained were the poorest of the citizens who couldn't afford to leave and others who stayed to help take care of them. That sad history brought us to our next memorial in Martyr's park along the banks of the Mississippi. 

At this point we left the car at Martyr's Park to walk along the river front and visit a string of small parks. The walk gave us a good opportunity to continue working on leash walking with Gypsy as well as her excitement at seeing people. When she pulled on the leash we would stop walking until she came back to us and walked with the leash loose. When joggers or other park visitors passed by we had her sit and stay until they passed. 

The riverwalk was an obvious choice because we had the puppy so were limited to outdoor/dog friendly locations and in particular there was a statue I wanted to see because of the story behind it. On the afternoon of May 8th, 1925 river worker Tom Lee was on his 28 foot boat named Zev on the Mississippi. While on the river Tom witnessed a large boat capsize. He made multiple trips to the boat and shore to rescue the passengers and is credited with rescuing thirty two of the 72 passengers. One survivor, J. M. Wood, was quoted on a sign near the Beale Street Landing as saying "We all owe our lives to Tom Lee. That's all there is to it." The passengers of the boat had been members and family of the Engineers Club of Memphis and the organization showed its appreciation to Tom by purchasing a home for him and sending him a Christmas gift every year until he passed away. The city also gave Tom a job as a sanitation worker.

The city also erected an obelisk in honor of Tom in 1954. The base explains:

"Tom Lee with his boat Zev saved thirty-two lives when the steamer U.S. Norman sank about twenty miles below Memphis May 8, 1925. But he has a finer monument than this- an invisible one. A monument of kindliness, generosity, courage and bigness of heart. His good deed were scattered everywhere that day and into eternity."

However the heading on the obelisk, which may have seemed appropriate in 1954, today strikes the viewer as inappropriate. The monument refers to Tom Lee as "A very worthy negro." I know that whoever wrote the statement and added that did not do it to belittle or insult Tom Lee.  I think the beauty of the rest of the statement about the invisible monument- the 32 lives and all those they touch- being a testament to Tom had the best of intentions. But even the best of intentions can be misplaced. When asked about his actions Tom Lee was quoted as saying "I guess I didn't do any more than anyone else would have done in my place." I think Tom did more than a lot of other people would have done and I think that is what they were trying to say on the obelisk. They thought they were honoring Tom with that phrase but instead the statement is belittling, divisive, and unnecessary. And I believe the city also recognized that. They could remove the obelisk but instead they clearly marked it as erected in 1954 and commissioned a new monument to Tom. And the new monument is beautiful.

I think the new statue by David Alan Clark was unveiled in 2006 and is a fitting tribute to Tom Lee's heroism. I found the detail in the statue and the outstretched hands beautiful. 

The park also has several other historical plaques and markers celebrating some more of the riverside city's history. For example one historical marker honored a visit from James Audubon on December 1, 1820 on his way to New Orleans. He stopped and sketched several animals and birds and eventually would publish Birds in America. Another plaque honored James Alfred Hyter "Ol Man River". James served three years in the US Army and became a Memphis legend for his performances at the Memphis in May Sunset ceremony when for 20 years (1978-1997) he ended the ceremony by singing Ol Man River. One article I read said that he would sing encore after encore and one time sang six encores of the song. The plaque honors him for his musical performances that brought a "diverse people together in common celebration of life on the Mississippi River." Another historical information board showed the routes of the Trail of Tears and the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands westward into Oklahoma. The board had a quote from a song expressing the pain of those who were forced to leave their lands:

"I have no more land. I am driven away from home, driven up the red waters, let us all go, let us all die together and somewhere upon the banks we will be there." -Sin-e-cha's Song.

Another mentioned the visit of Alexis De Tocqueville who stopped near Memphis during his visit to America in 1831-32. During his visit he observed and took notes for his book Democracy in America published in 1835. 

And then I reached the moment I had been looking forward to from the first time I had ever heard the song "Walking in Memphis". I had looked forward to walking in Memphis and specifically on the famous Beale Street. The plan was to walk up Beale street to Dyer's burgers, a Beale street eatery that has been in business since the early 1900s and eat our burgers and fries in Handy Park. 

We saw several famous landmark buildings as we approached the cobblestoned Beale street including the Orpheum Theater, Peabody Hotel, and BB Kings.

Again I knew I would need to come back sometime without Gypsy Rover so that we could go into the Peabody Hotel and see the Peabody Ducks, take a riverboat ride on the Mississippi, and maybe even visit one of the music spots to hear some amazing blues music that Memphis is famous for but I was not prepared for the surprise I got when we walked up to Beale street. Namely a sign that said no animals (or reptiles) allowed on Beale street. 

So Meg took Gypsy Rover over to the Fedex Forum and sat at some picnic benches while I walked over to Dyers to get lunch. Now the story behind Dyer's on Beale is that in 1912 Elmer Dyer opened his restaurant with his secret to the unique burgers served is the ageless cooking grease. The burgers and fries made today are cooked in the same oil that was used when Mr. Dyer first opened his shop. It is strained and cleaned but has never been changed.

The burgers came with mustard pickles and onions on them and as I waited at the counter for my take out I could see the cooks working hard cooking the fries and burgers in their famous oil. Then I walked the block over to the home of the Memphis Grizzlies.

We had been planning to walk around Memphis some more but after the surprise at Beale street we decided to walk back to the car and drive. On the way up we saw a historical marker for the "Clothier to the King" the plaque told the story of Bernard and Guy Lansky. Their shop was known for it's vibrant colored cloth. Bernard Lansky told the story of his first meeting Elvis:

"Bernard recalls looking up one day and seeing a young man looking at his windows. He walked up to greet him and told him, 'Come on in and let me show you around.' The young man said, 'I don't have any money, Mr. Lansky, but when I get rich, I'm going to buy you out.' Bernard told him, 'Don't buy me out, just buy from me.'"

We walked back to the car at Martyr's Park and drove to the Memphis pyramid. Originally the pyramid was supposed to be a sports arena and a set of three but only the first and largest was built. Today it is a giant Bass Pro Shop with a hotel, restaurant, and an observation deck. We couldn't fully explore  the observation deck again because of the puppy so again going up to the top will be something we do on a return trip. But it was very worth the visit to be able to practice some awesome sit stays from Gypsy Rover. 

Next up was another spot that we will have to return too, The Lorraine Motel where on April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated by James Earl Ray while he stood on the balcony in front of room 306. Today the Lorraine is a Civil Rights Museum. A wreath marks the spot where King stood when he was hit by the bullet. 

Leaving the Lorraine we headed out to Ikea and the entire point of the trip. We pulled into the Memphis location and I parked in the fifteen minute loading zone. Once inside there was clear signage pointing to where the internet pick up area was. I had ID and my email with my order info ready. Behind the desk I saw several carts lined up with orders and immediately spotted my bookshelves. The employee behind the counter checked my name and info and got my order. I was out and had it loaded easily with in the fifteen minutes.

The only thing left to do was grab some dinner. Once I had decided we were going to Memphis I contacted several area breweries to see two things 1 if they were dog friendly and 2 if they sold growlers with their logo. High Cotton Brewing answered me almost immediately. They loved dogs and they were always welcome in the brewery and they had their own growlers. A bonus was that next door was a restaurant.

 It had been a long day for the puppy and the first time in almost a week that she had really been out so we got her set up with her dinner and some water and took off the cone so she could comfortably eat and relax. I also ordered a flight of their beers so that we could pick one for the growler to take home.

The Burger

The restaurant next door is called the Edge Alley. The menu was filled with delicious descriptions of fresh locally sourced ingredients.

Tennessee Ham Flatbread 

Ballet Cake

It was a hard choice but after tasting each of the beers we settled on the Razz Wheat to take home with us. It was a great brewery and a very satisfying dinner which set us up for a good drive home. The trip is easy Interstate 40 connects Nashville with Memphis. So I didn't even need a GPS for directions. Overall it was a long day and we were worn out when we got home but it was totally worth it to get the bookshelves and just have a nice relaxing day out. 

My luck right! I know you're jealous!

Sooooooo. You know the saying "if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all." Well that applies to me - big time! It has gotten to the point where I just have to laugh at it; no sense in fighting it anymore. The phrase  "my luck right! I know you're jealous!" has become a refrain Meg and I say often. Well, my luck struck Friday.

On Thursday I was supposed to go to the store and buy something for someone, vague right ;-) Anyway Thursday came and I was tired after work and thought to myself, "Self, what is the chance that someone will come buy this random item tonight. I'll go in the morning and buy it." Well the next day I go to the store and guess what happened. That very morning they had sold the item to a guy who buys all the discontinued/clearance material. I had missed it by about two hours. My luck, right!

So I began looking around because I committed to getting this and needed to find it. And I did - in Lenoir, NC.

Well I hadn't been on a road trip in awhile and it really doesn't take much to get me to go on one so Meg and I accepted the quest. We spoke to the store in Lenoir and told them we would be there Saturday since it was a bit of a drive. And then Saturday we got up at 6am and headed east.

The drive is an easy one basically get on I 40 and drive east for a very long time. It is a path we were very familiar with having spent a month driving behind TN and NC over a year and a half ago.

2019 had been a fantastic year for road trips. In December I bought a US map and went over my past road trips from that year to trace out where we had gone.  Every year I will update it using a different color marker until I need a new map. And now I get to trace out the first road trip of 2020 in a month when cold and snow usually keep me from planning road trips. There are some other really great trips planned this year so much so that this map pictured below doesn't include all the states I plan on driving to.

Our drive to Lenoir was good. We had our puppy, Gypsy Rover, with us for her first car trip and she did great. She loves the car and does this awesome climb up into the truck where she gets her front paws on it and then flings herself back and up into the seat. Anyway she spent most of the trip sleeping. I did use a slow feeder bowl to entertain her and feed her at one point while we drove. 

Saturday had some pretty rough weather traveling west to east across the country with the worst of it staying south of us. However we did spend the drive east staying just ahead of the rain. To the point where whenever we stopped to walk the puppy we would get back in the car to some light drizzle and within minutes it we would be away from it until the next stop. 

Now I didn't want to go all that way and not see anything so I looked up breweries to see if there were any near by or along our way. I did know that even if I didn't find anything new I could always swing by Asheville which is a great town filled with lots of unique breweries. 

I found a brewery with great reviews called Liquid Roots Brewing Project. All the reviews point out that the owners are there and very welcoming which is one of the great thing about the growing number of small craft breweries. It is nice to see owners who are also brewers and love to talk about styles and beers as much as the customers. Anyway, given the reason for the road trip boiling down to me saying I was going to do something on one day and then being too lazy to do it I wasn't going to make a blog post. Depending on how you look at it I went on this road trip on Saturday as a great move of friendship or to cover my own ass :-) But when we got to Liquid Roots I decided I would do a post because this part of the story was too good to pass up. 

Since Liquid Roots does not get at least 30% of its profits from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages according to town/state code they have to register as a club with membership dues. So I paid 1$ and I am now a lifetime member of the club and can drive all the way back to Lenoir anytime I would like for a drink. I then ordered a taster of each of their own brews, they had a good amount of guest taps as well as their own. 

I loved their wooden flight boards and each one was unique. 

As we sat to enjoy the beers Gypsy Rover settled in again with her slow feeder to have a little dinner. 

So looking over the description list there were several beers that really intrigued us. Again the cool thing about owners who are brewers is sometimes a willingness to take a chance. I would say the Ogre was the beer that had our interest the most. It was a "nerd saison". In the fermentor they had added 12 lbs of grape and strawberry nerds to a saison base. At first I was thinking it would be too sweet and I would not like it. But as soon as I tried it I was sold. The taste really worked well and the sweetness was not overpowering like I thought it would be. That being said our favorite and clear growler contender was the freedom ale. But there were so many good aspects of the beers that each one had us smiling, whether from its unique taste or the name of the beer- I'm looking at you "Water sucks".

Meg really loved the design with the sprawling tree root system. And the back of the growler said "Life's short. Beer happy." Which is a great way to sum up the welcoming atmosphere of the club. 

The also sell a pretty tasty coffee and we each got a cup to take on the road. The way home hit some more of the rocky weather that including rain and some strong winds but my Ford Explorer Sport Trac handled it like a boss! 

Road trip success, brewery success, and still keeping my word success. 

One tin soldier rides away...

On August 5th Michelle "Max" Buckius lost her brief and fierce battle with cancer. In the hours, days, and weeks since then I have been constantly thinking about the beautiful soul that was Michelle and how despite her life being cut short she had such an impact on not just myself and my sister but countless other people.

I did not have the privilege of meeting Michelle until we were thirteen, almost fourteen, and one week away from the start of High School at Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, NY. We were at Island Trees Middle School picking up our text books. Our Mothers began bonding over how they paid so much in taxes and all the district had to do was provide a bus and books and they didn't even want to do that. See the problem the school district was having was that we were taking Latin and the school had ordered the books and now couldn't locate them. So while we all waited for further information on the books Michelle, Meghan, and I exchanged some small talk about hobbies and interests. Eventually there was a resolution to the missing books and we all went our way. I didn't think much about our meeting. I assumed we may not even really see each other much in high school since I was coming from a school where there had been 25 in my class and in Sacred Heart there would be 200. Sure I knew we were taking Latin but at this point three out of three people that I knew at Sacred Heart were taking Latin so that didn't mean much.

Our Mothers and us at graduation.

Michelle and I join Meg and try on tree costumes.

Then the first day of school came, and the bus came, and we got on, and Michelle was there and immediately picked up on the conversation from a week earlier. And then there she was again in Latin class (because only a few brave souls actually took Latin) and of course the bus ride home. And this went on day after day after day, year after year. Sometimes it changed sometimes Michelle or we would have an after school activity and someone would skip the bus. Other times we would all have an after school activity together like intramural sports or working on costumes for our senior year production of the Wizard of OZ.


When we didn't have school we would go to Michelle's house and get a movie from Blockbuster and hang out in her den. Or go to Friendly's were Michelle would order the Fishamajig sandwich fairly consistently. There were even trips into New York City to see a Broadway show. And two trips across the ocean the first to France and the second to Switzerland and Italy. The point is what began as a frustrating wait for some Latin textbooks became a friendship that had the three of us referring to each other as "Triplets."

I wish I remembered why we posed like this.

I keep going over some of my favorite memories with her and there are a lot. Like one funny example of how small the world is. Meg and I worked at McDonald's in high school and we were telling Michelle about funny/interesting/ and annoying customers. So we were telling her about one customer who always ordered a grilled chicken sandwich but wanted everything separate: lettuce in one box, tomato in another box, bread in a third, and chicken in a fourth. Michelle began laughing because the customer who we knew as "the chicken lady" was her Nanny when she was a child.

A reenactment of the salute.

I think it was senior year when we made up army ranks for various teachers and one day the three of us were walking down the hall with Meg on one side, Michelle in the middle, and me on the other side when one of our teachers entered the hall. We all stopped simultaneously and saluted. Never before or after did we get the timing so perfect.



We travelled to Europe together and viewed the beaches at Normandy and visited the National Cemetery with gravestone after gravestone as far as we could see. We spent part of a night in a haunted hotel room until we couldn't take it any longer and moved to a different room. We stood under the Eiffel Tower and visited Venice, Florence, and Rome.

Our trip to France was in 1998 and the World Cup was being played there. Not only that but our last night in France was a playoff game that would send the winner to the final game and France was in that game. Not realizing that we could go into bars we walked around the Champs-Elysees trying to look in and see the score. At some point we heard lots and lots of screaming and cheering and we turned to an older man on the road and asked "did we just win?" Luckily for us he was an Englishman and he was slightly confused but then answered "yes  we won." The French team went on to beat Brazil and become "the Champs."

Vive la France!

A year later we were in a hotel room in Switzerland when there was a noise that startled me. I jumped on the bed to close the window and broke the bed. The slats fell through to the floor. Michelle and Meghan, the girl scout and genius, spent the next hour or so fixing the bed. We couldn't get the slats to bend back in so one of them came up with the idea to fill the tub with water and soak the slats so that the wood would become more pliable. Then armed with our Swiss Army knives we had stereotypically bought in Switzerland we bent the slats back and repaired the bed.

We saw the Phantom of the Opera and the Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway, the latter making such an impression that on a Year Book page congratulating the three of us we had multiple references to it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Also there were adventures in driver's ed (we really were inseparable in high school.) Our driver's ed teacher was obsessed with the Amityville Horror house and we spent the better part of our classes with Michelle driving first so that we passed the house, me doing a three point turn, and Meghan driving home.

Prom group photo

And of course there was prom night when after leaving the prom we went to play laser tag and ended the night in a Diner.

After Prom laser tag

And then high school ended and we went north to New Hampshire while Michelle went south to North Carolina.

Ahh the 90s

Our second day of classes our sophomore year was 9/11/01 and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michelle was still in NY because her semester was starting late as she would be spending it abroad. So she was in NY and the amazing human being that she is when our city was attacked she went to help others. It was an experience that changed and effected her. Michelle had always had a drive to help and care for others but I think this strengthened that in her.

Rye Playland

It was at this point where it became increasingly clear that we would never be in the same state at the same time. Our friendship survived through phone calls and texts and on social media. Each time no matter how long had gone by we would pick up as if no time had passed. It isn't even like we had to fill each other in on what was going on. It was like we somehow knew and would just continue. I feel like Michelle had a sixth sense because every time she would call me I would have just been thinking, "I wonder how Michelle is? Or its been awhile since I last spoke to Michelle"









But time did pass and I wish it hadn't. I always thought there would be time later. Sure our lives had diverged but there would always be more time to call and talk and visit. I took it for granted that there would be time and ended up wasting it because now there is no more time.






So what made this friendship so special? Well remember when we first met how I said I didn't really think much about meeting someone. For a variety of reasons Meg and I were very isolated. We had each other as friends and didn't really see a need to worry about other friends. But Michelle was willing to put in the work. And she showed Meg and myself that we did need and want friends. Michelle made every friendship I have ever had from high school to today possible. Not only that but like I said in the beginning we called her our triplet. A few months ago I dug out some of our pictures from high school. I don't think that it is an accident that basically when ever the three of us were together Michelle was always in the middle. Physically symbolically whatever she was a part of us. She broke through a wall we had built and I don't know that anyone else could have done that.

We were so young.

"Rae's girls all three", "Triplets", and a "Terrific Trio" is how we described ourselves.

So many inside jokes :-)

Every time we left PA these past few months I thought to myself "I'm not ready to see her for the last time." Truth is I was never going to be ready I'm still not. But I know I'm not alone in feeling that way and thinking that way. I know there are a lot of other people in NY, MA, PA, NC, Grenada, MS, and countless other places that feel the same way. Michelle loved people. She loved them she cared for them she wanted to help and protect other people all the time. Some of it was learned from her parents and from years as a girl scout but also I think it was just who she was it was the way she was born. It is no accident she found her calling as a doctor, a surgeon. Performing plastic surgery was just an outward manifestation of what she already did for people on the inside, she made them feel whole.

I can think of no better way to celebrate her life then to continue in a way that would make her proud. It's as simple as be kind to others. She always wanted others to feel like they belonged and were wanted. I am just one of the many who have been changed and made better because I knew her. She truly was in a league of her own.

Monday September 23rd should be her 37th birthday, well it still is, but this time she isn't a text or call away. It just doesn't make sense. How can everything be going so well and then fall apart in a matter of months?

Michelle deserved so much happiness. Not that everyone doesn't but she really deserved it. She was so good. And here she was finally done with school, in a plastic surgery practice, and not only that but she was in the best shape of her life. Her life and career was falling into place perfectly. Everything she had been working for was coming to fruition.

At her graduation when she finished her plastic surgery program my Mom gave her a beautiful painting that had been painted specifically for her, based on a design that my Mom had imagined, by a local Nashville artist.

Mom and Michelle

Michelle was supposed to get married Labor Day weekend at the Aquarium on Long Island. Shortly after learning she had cancer I called her, not really understanding how serious it was or maybe hoping it wasn't as bad as I thought. I asked her if she had plans for her Bachelorette or if I could help plan something.

I don't understand because there was so much good she still had to do. Not only being a model for her family and friends but the countless patients she could have helped and young doctors she could have mentored. 

It just doesn't make sense why her? Why didn't treatments work? Cancer is so random and cold. Treatment should have worked she should have recovered that would make sense and then she would go on with her life and career. There were certainly lots of people praying for her. I prayed for her every night to God to St. Peregrine, the patron saint of those who suffer from cancer. And so I sit here grieving but also I am so angry at how senseless this loss is. I want the world to follow some kind of logic and order and this doesn't at all. There is no logic and order to cancer. It serves no purpose.

Or how do I rectify this pain with a loving God. Because a loving God would have listened to prayers and realized this was a special person with a lot of good to do. She was someone who the world needed. And why does God answer one prayer and not another? All the wasted prayers for New York Ranger wins, David Cone's Perfect game I prayed for an out with every pitch, tests in school, or promotions and raises at work, and the Solar Eclipse of 2017 I prayed for perfect weather. 

Did I waste all my answered prayers on nonsense? 

Because I would trade them all for these prayers to have been answered. 

At the back of my Year Book Senior year was a poem I had written I think during my sophomore year. It certainly hit hard when I read it after looking through the year book for pictures of Michelle.

Goodbye

Today I say goodbye

for now I shall not cry. 

The sun has set on this day

To send you on your long long way.

The sun will rise for me tomorrow,

Then I may show some sorrow

To think that now we shall part

Hurts and breaks my poor, poor heart.

Greater loss I have not felt

Than this which just now I was dealt.

With all the days and ever more

You shall be as you were before,

My best friend through all the years.

So here's to you, I toast with cheers

For all the love that we have shared

And how much we all do care

Through good time and bad time,

Through endless nights and suns that shine.

And so we shall remain

And never shall we change,

For now we have a perfect score

As best friends forever more.