My dad enjoyed playing pranks and would laugh so hard he would cry.  Halloween and Goosey night were very big in our childhood neighborhood.  The doorbell would ring non-stop. That Halloween evening, I walked into the kitchen to find Dad bent over in the refrigerator.  I said” Dad, what are you looking for?  He was laughing so hard he couldn’t answer me.  As he straightened up backing out of the fridge he had a piece of wilted celery in his hand.  Still belly laughing he snatched up our scrubby little black dog, Tricksy and said “watch this!”  It was getting late and a little boy about 8 years old came to the door by himself dressed in his costume proudly saying “Trick or treat!  Dad opened the door and said, I’m very sorry young man but we just ran out of candy. “ I don’t want you to leave without anything so you have a choice, you can either have this dog or the celery”.  The little guy studied the scrubby little black dog in one arm and the wilted celery in the other.  He looked back and forth at each treat being offered to him.  It was a big decision. He said very seriously, as he slowly reached for the celery,” I better take this celery, if I bring home this dog my mother will kill me”.

We laughed and laughed and the little guy got a big bag of candy for being a good sport.

Within moments of meeting Bill in 2006, I was no sooner out on a lake fishing with him.  Everywhere we went- I think he had his fishing pole handy in the trunk of his car....just in case there was an opportunity to fish :) 

I will never forget the conversations I had with Bill.  He would rile me up about politics, laugh about his old military stories, talk about sports, and debate over silly things like what qualified as good music or how to correctly make a good cup of coffee (some of you will understand the hidden joke in this last comment) .  We would play word jumble over morning coffee while listening to the radio during my visits to Punta Gorda. 

To summarize my time that I knew Bill, he was a good man.  He truly loved his family, his wife, and his friends. 

As Mark Twain says in my favorite quote, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."  I am looking up and smiling towards heaven remembering and treasuring the memories Bill has created in my life.  I feel honored to have known him.