A Tribute to My Brother - Tommy Thompson UPDATED (scroll down for update)

Tommy Would Laugh His Ass Off at This

Today is a bittersweet day for me. Here I am with a wonderful family, plenty to eat and a roof over my head. Yet a part of me is missing today. February 23 is the birth date of the best friend a man could ever have. Sadly, my friend is not here to celebrate with us or his adoring wife, whom he loved so very much. many of you reading this post will recognize the name of my late friend. His name was Tommy Thompson. If Tommy were here today we would have been friends for forty years. But Tommy and I were much more than just beer drinking buddies, we were brothers, in the truest sense of the word. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Tommy and I would have several cold beers and just talk about life. Trust me when I say we did that alot. And Adolph Coors thanks us.

I didn't find out that Tommy had died until about two years after the fact. I found out about it on one of the Nimitz High School Alum sites. I was devastated. I had lost my brother to that most hideous of diseases, cancer. God, I wish I could have been there when he was sick. My sister, Cheryl, goes to church at the same church as Tommy's widow, Rita. Rita told Cheryl that as Tommy lay on his death bed, he wanted to"call my brother, Cecil". I feel like somebody is kickin' me in the gut every time I think of that. When Tommy needed a brother, I wasn't there for him. It hurts my heart real bad. But, I'm sure Tommy understood and forgave me. Still, I feel physically ill because I didn't get one last chance to tell him how much he had touched my life. He helped through some of the toughest times of my life back then and never asked for a thing in return. I don't want to get too mushy, I know Tommy is looking down from his place in Heaven and isn't liking the fact that I am making a big deal about his life and death. God, it pains me to write that word, "death", about my brother. As I have said before, I hope that I was half the friend to him that he was to me. Tommy was one of God's gifts to me. A gift I treasure to this day. A friend, a beer drinking buddy, a brother. Put simply, Tommy Thompson was a good man.

Because Toby said so.

I love you, Tommy.
Your brother,
Toby

UPDATE: My wife, Heather, left a comment on this story a few minutes ago. I originally was going to write something similar, but she said it much better than I ever could. Heather said:
 

SimplyHeather said...

I am so sorry for your pain honey, I know I cannot take it away. However maybe this will reach someone who has that special friend that you found in Tommy and that person is still alive. Maybe through your experience someone out there will say " I wonder where so and so is" and go forth in getting a hold of them. Its so easy to lose connections to friends when family and children and life happens. Maybe through your story someone will stop for a minute and let that friend know exactly how much they touched their life while they still have the chance to say so.

February 23, 2011 6:40 PM