How do you say farewell to a neighbor?

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This Memorial Day I was saying farewell to the old man across the street.  I gave him a little gift  in acknowledgment of  his service to the country,  appreciation of a great neighbor, and also in remembrance of conversations we have had about gardening over the years but most particularly recent ones regarding the gorgeous poppies and a poem.  He was was thanking me for the gesture when he brought me over to give me this cheerful little coffee pot!  It is a Berggren enamel coffee percolator.  It reads “Coffee Maketh Bright the Spirit”.

I would like a nice cup of coffee to brighten my spirit right now because when I see it I think of the old man who just gave it to me, leaving our neighborhood after many years.  He put the house up for sale and is packin up and movin on to a beautiful senior community nearby.  Its definitely sad, saying good bye and losing a nice neighbor.

There will always be that special place in our memories of him in his military baseball cap, beer in hand, tending to his tidy yard or working in the garage with the door open while it rains.  He has started giving me some little things here and there that he wont be using, because his new place is like “the Taj Mahal of the old folks homes” and he “will be served by white tablecloth everyday.”

He has been a quirky yet cheerful grandpa man watchdog in our neighborhood.  Ed has also faithfully brought up garbage cans to the house for several surrounding neighbors every week on trash day!   He’s been keeping his yard beautiful and can be found everyday walking around taking care of his property.  I’ve been walking by his house more often since the kids bus stop has changed.  So sometimes we talk about gardening and one morning when we were admiring the huge poppies beginning to bloom in his front yard he was trying to recall a poem about poppies on Memorial Day.  I told him I wasn’t familiar with it but I would look it up.

He had told me in passing a few times, he was waiting to see if they’d make it til memorial day, but he didn’t think they would.  These are the tallest variety I have ever seen!  They have huge pods.  Then he quickly told me “They are not the real poppies though.”  With a wink and a grin.  Of course I replied “Oh darn!”   :^)

Knowing that he is a veteran, I really wanted to look up the poem and share it with him.  I was also born on Memorial Day so I was curious to know the tradition.  Below is a photo of the poem at the famous cemetery.  Also a picture I took of our neighbor, Ed, with his poppies on the last Memorial Day he will be spending in this home.

Turns out the poppies did last until Memorial Day.  That is the day that we gave him a copy of the pictures below.  He told me and my husband on a separate occasion that, he really appreciated the sentiment and it was a really nice surprise, something like hasn’t happened in a long time.  (Insert broken heart here!)

Farewell friendly neighbor.  The rest of us will truly miss him, our neighborhood grandpa man watching the area.  This place just wont be the same.

I will use the cute little coffee pot to put a smile on my face when we remember Ed.

Because it is true; “Coffee Maketh Bright the Spirit”.

In Flanders Fields (1915)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

Added: June 8th, 2010    Tags: Flanders Fields poem, Memorial Day poppies, vintage coffee perculator

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