Tripping through the nostalgia that is former friends and relationships can bring fond memories, and often does. Then you have a week that is bittersweet. Through the miracle of on-line networking I've made contact with several of my buddies and buddettes from yesteryear. Recently I found a couple of old debate friends and they mentioned another of our cohorts to know if I had heard from him over the years.

I had to admit that, while his name crossed my mind from time to time, I had no contact whatever with this one-time better of my friends since our high school days. The reason for their question was that they had indeed had contact with our friend and wanted to let me know that he had succumbed to a battle with a rare form of cancer. He'd been apparently a successful journalist in his own right, and left behind a wife and two children. I regret that I found out too late to read any of the entertaining movie reviews that had been his bread and butter for his last seven years. So here are some belated thoughts. You can read if you like, this is for me.

I remember Bill. He was funny. He was fun. He was my friend. I'm sorry that I did not keep in touch once I traipsed off to college and parts beyond. From everything that I've found to read about him (written in eulogy) his success as a journalist and film critic were an extension of the Bill that I knew. I'd love to read some of those well-worded reviews. I know that they would bring back the humor that brought a quick smile to everyone who knew him. For his wife and children I pray for comfort even at this late date. May their memory of him be as fond as mine--if not reached from as many years' passing.

Bill Muller