A death dream

A friend and former co-worker retired from his job recently. Not because he wanted to, but because my former (and now his former) employer forced him into retirement. SOB's!!! They informed him early in December that he had to be gone by the end of the year (2009).

Last Thursday (12/31), I had a dream that my friend had passed away. It was a bizarre dream in that his wife came to me to make the funeral arrangements, even though I'm not a funeral director and even though she was using a funeral home on the far side of Jefferson County. I remember stressing trying to write his obituary and over the fact he was being buried at "that" place ("that" place being the cemetery that kicked us both to the curb after years of faithful service). I argued he wouldn't want to be buried there, as his wife's family was at a small local cemetery and his family was at Cave Hill.
The alarm woke me and the dream ended, but it left me very disturbed all morning. When I arrived at work, I told my boss about the dream, as he knows my friend too. He said, "well, in a way he has died, or will soon".
He meant this figuratively, and I knew it. My friend lived for his job. He's one of the hardest working people I've ever known in my life. Honest as a day is long. He'd help anybody in any way he could, whether you were friend or stranger. I know how devastating this must be for him, and I wonder what he's going to do now to fill his time.
Later that day, the local, weekly newspaper was delivered. I turned to page 2 where the obituaries are and while just giving them a quick look over, something on the opposite page caught my eye. It was a picture of my friend with a "congratulation on his retirement" that his employer had put in the paper. I thought it was rather appropriate that it was right next to the obituaries.