MY FRIEND EDDIE

Ed and I have been friends for the last twenty five years. We worked at FMC corporation, a chemical plant, where we were general mechanics. This meant we were supposed to be able to do carpentry, masonary, machinist, and millwright types of work. Ed and I had our clothes lockers in the same stall for ten years before we discovered we had the same birth date but ten years apart. We have sent each other christmas/birthday cards ever since. I consider Ed to be a great friend, he and I can talk about any subject from the bible to politics and race and we never arguue. We may not have excataly thE same outlook or opinion on the same subject but we still get along just fine. We both have type 2 diabetes. Being ten years older than me, I can see some things that have happened to him that if I don't take care of myself could happen to me.
Ed lost his right leg from just below the knee to diabetes last year. I have tried to help him adjust. We talk on the phone and sometimes he seem a little down. The other day he was tellig me that he was going to work for a new place,"IHOP"! He seems to be getting more used to the new "leg" now.
The last time I talked to him he had just returned from his brothers funeral. This seemed to have him down a good bit. We were talking about what we wanted our families to do with us when we passed on. I told him I didn't care what they did with me I wouldn't know anything about it anyway. He said he had told his family that he wanted to be cremated. I told him they could use his wooden leg as kindling and he about busted a gut laughing. This is the kind of relationship we have, see who can make the other laugh. I wish Ed the best of everthing. He came up on the rough side, but turned out just fine. He's now 70 and I am 60 so I don't know how much longer either of us may have. But if I live to 100 I will still remember my friend Eddie.