Time for a rest. The check list of chores is dwindling but the back and hands need a break. An interesting item found while cleaning and sorting things brought happy thoughts.
Many years ago, before my previous life, a childhood friend went into the navy and for some reason unknown to me at the time, I was the only friend who wrote regularly about anything and everything happening with me and around our hometown.
Most of his time onboard ship, he wrote, was boring and he expressed a desire for escapist reading material. It wasn't difficult to mail items to sailors back then, so I sent a book a week and a letter usually twice a week when there was enough interesting to report. I turned him on to sci-fi books by Robert Heinlein, including the Lazarus Long series (written many years before), Podkayne of Mars, Farnham's Freehold, and of course, Stranger in a Strange Land which became his favourite. Another strengthening of our bond because it was also my fave, as well.
Anyway, since childhood he had a fascination with gem stones and in his travels throughout South America and the far east, he found many beauties. By the time he returned to NOLA, I was already living in NYC. I made sure I visited the family that year at Christmas, and planned to spend some quality time with him, too.
We met at a fave bar in the Quarter and it was a stunning evening for me. Not only did he come out as gay after the Navy, he told me that I was the only friend to keep in touch all the time he was a sea. Before leaving for another venue he shoved two small envelopes (about the size of coin envelopes today) into my hands as he gave me a big hug. We both cried a little, but bar hopping was on the agenda, so we saved the tears for after we got pleasantly drunk.
He had given me two special stones - beautifully cut and polished - an emerald cut Sapphire, and an oval sort of cushion cut Imperial Topaz. He never talked about the gifts, but I am sure they were favourites and wanted me to have them. These stones remained in the envelopes for years, past my previous life during which time they were all but forgotten. Then three years ago while going through the upheavel and pain of the break up, I found the Sapphire and on a lark took it to work and showed it to the boss. I thought the eyes would pop out of his head. He checked the gem info book for colour and carat weight and told me it was worth a lot of money. He promptly decided that I must have a ring made. So I did.
Now today, two years on, I find the Topaz in its little envelope and the memories came flooding back to me. While I cannot afford the luxury of setting the stone right now, I promise I will do so when things improve.
You see, we stayed in touch over the years whenever I visited NOLA he and his partner, mine and I would get together for a few jolly evenings. Unfortunately I have not heard from him since Katrina. I found out that his home was destroyed by the flood and there was no sign of either of them since the storm. I've tried all kinds of searches from the Red Cross after the storm, to the death rolls compiled over the years, but with no more information. Periodically, I will run a search on his name for a phone number anywhere in LA. I am sure he'd never leave NOLA, let alone Louisiana. He wouldn't be able to find me since the break up and sale of the house
I am a happy camper having found the other stone and telling the story again. Nice memories for a gloomy day. Now it's back to the clearing and cleaning up before cooking and having a quiet dinner. I think I'll have a Sazerac (pictured above) in his honour.
More later.
