For all those friends

 who took that big trip too soon

from

Everyone says 'Hi'

by David Bowie

Amine, who - 'though we meet only a very few times - got a friend, a good listener, a good talker, someone to laugh with, someone to be sad with ... he loved to motorcycle, sailed away on his motorcycle ...

Said you took a big trip
They said you moved away
Happened oh, so quietly
They say

Shoulda took a picture
Something I could keep
Buy a little frame
Something cheap
For you

Everyone says hi

Said you sailed a big ship
Said you sailed away
Didn't know the right thing
To say

I'd love to get a letter
Like to know what's what
Hope the weather's good
And it's not too hot
For you

Everyone says hi
Everyone says hi
Everyone says
Don't stay in a sad place
Where they don't care how you are
Everyone says hi

If the money is lousy
You can always come home
We can do the old things
We can do all the bad things
If the food gets you leery
You can always phone
We could do all the good things
We could do it, we could do it, we could do it
Don't stay in a bad place
Where they don't care how you are

Babette, who I once knew as a pretty girl, a excellent tennis player and a very nice person to chat with ... when I last saw her, I should have known what could happen and I should have said 'Hi' at least ... but I didn't know the right thing to say. A scary disease that too many girls have, and you always ask  the question, if you could have helped ...

Carl, my grandfather, who luckiely  almost faded away just before his 88th birthday. I first met him at the age of 13, took a trip to Munich to visit him and his wonderful (soon to become) wife Gertrud. I wished I would have known more about his life, going a way that was never straight and no one to follow him all the way. Thank God that I took the time to visit him just before he passed away ...

Hacki, an 'older' friend who moved away recently, but not old at heart ... . He is one of the very few people  I'll take as a model for the way I want to live - his energie, his positivity, his loyality, his honesty, his enthusiasm for life and erverything he did.

Peter, 24 hours a day have not been enough ... his familiy, his friends, his job, his hobbies ... a fantastic cook. Ironically a man whose job was to save other people's hearts didn't find anyone to save his heart ... seemed to foresee what should happen ... and tried to even live faster, not to miss anything ...