I MISS UGLY

Its Memorial Day morning. A time to grill out, reflect on those passed. I miss Ugly
I guess I need to explain about the name Ugly. A long time ago, back in high school, Ronald Paul Albright, a couple years younger than us, started hanging with us. Us, consisted of me, my friend Tommy, the Bennaway's all the closest neighbors my age. We all grew up in rural Ontario, NY. and in those days, it was just a village. We lived on the lakeshore of Great Lake Ontario, amid the fruit orchards, grape vineyards, and the smell of the seaweed backing up in Bear Creek.
One day, Tom and I saw Ron peddling up on his bike, and Tommy blurted out" Here comes that ugly Albright kid!" For whatever reason, from that day on, Ron was called Ugly. We had a good life, growing up in the rural environment; camping in the near-by woods, swimming and boating on the lake, "Terrorizing" the town in our rebellious teenage ways. Ugly was a part of my first real friends, always consistent in my life, and still everpresent, though he has passed. So, today, as I reflect on Memorial Day, I think of Ugly. I think of how he lives on in so many people's memory. Of all the lives he touched, of all the giving he had for humanity, of the opportunities I missed to have another moment with Ugly.