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It's been a long time since I wrote in this thing...

Seven, almost eight months to be exact.

A lot went on during that time frame, lemme tell you.

Last month, a dear friend of mine passed away due to natural causes. Paul Dilly, the man my mother met about a year and a half ago died. Although, there were in fact times when he and my mother butted heads, they always came out laughing their asses off some several minutes later.

I also knew this man for about the same time and he passed some wisdom on to me that will forever stay in my mind. He had an absolutely loving bunch of friends and family that has virtually adopted us when we got here. Even now, they still think of us as family even though it's just me and my mom.

He also ad the pleasure of meeting some radio guys like Tom Becka and Gary Saddlemeyer. I'll get into what's up later.

As I mentioned, Paul's family (even though there were some pretty bad apples) accepted us into their fold. To me, if that's not love, then someone tell me what isn't.

As I was getting back home on that fateful night from a D&D game, I was coming down Benson Garden Boulevard when I saw two cars parked on the street next to the complex. My initial though was that "OK, someone got into a fight. No big deal."

Man, was I wrong. When I rounded that corner, I saw three of Paul's sons. Dusty, Brandon and Brad all sitting at a picnic table not too far from where what was to me, a shock of a lifetime. Immediately when I showed up, Dusty was the first one to ask me something.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked me.

Stupid is as stupid does, my answer was that I don't have any clue what's going on.

I then look inside Paul's place to see a cop inside and my mother freaking out about something.

"Ma?!" I call to her. "What's going on in there?"
"Daniel!" She answers me back. "Paul's dead."

I was thinking, no way, that can't be.

Sure enough, when I walked into that place, there he was. Slumped over on his electric wheelchair with his head on the stove. Not moving, not breathing.

Even now, that image haunts me. The fact that he died in his house all alone.

The funeral that followed was one full of pomp and circumstance. It was all something that he would've enjoyed had he been around long enough to see it.

Now, onto why he knew some guys over at 1110 KFAB, specifically Tom Becka and Gary Saddlemeyer.

On the day his family were making arrangements, I contacted Tom to let him know that one of his fellow PBL's, (that's Proud Becka Listeners) had recently died. I only kept it short yet sweet (despite that's not the way it sounds) becuase of said arrangements. The guys on the Good Morning show wound up putting together a segment that talked all about him. Obviously, this guy was definitely quite a part of the Omaha community.

Funny what happens when one email sets off a firestorm, huh?

So now... Here we are, a month after Paul's gone... And now, I wish for that time back. As I mentioned, even though he, mother and I have butted heads with each other, we always came back with the hatchet buried.

Don't get me wrong. I respected the man. But now that's he's gone... I just don't know what more to do or say. The house is much quieter without him around. And to be honest, I kinda miss the racket he always made. Be it either accidentally running his wheelchair into a wall, talking, washing dishes, or whatever else.

To quote a song from Brooks and Dunn, specifically "I Believe", I laid there in my bedroom thinking back and thought about that year and a half. To be honest, I didn't know if I cired or not. But I will say this. If there was ever anybody that deserved that ticket to the other side, it would definitely be him.

Paul... If you're out there, wherever you are, I want you to know one thing. I want to thank you for everything you've done for me and my mother during the time we've known each other. May you forever rest in peace and say hi to my grandmother up there. Thanks for all that you did. I'll take care of things down here.

Paul W. Dilly
1950-2007