A Piano Ballad, A Thriving Business, and the Legacy Left Behind

“Sing us a song you’re the piano man.. sing us a song tonight.”

The lyrics were playing in the café and my thoughts turned to my friend from school.

Don

Now when I met Don, he was really annoying and I didn’t want anything to do with him.

But my friends liked him and by hanging out and seeing his loyalty and character my opinion changed, and we became friends ourselves.

And this song became an anthem of sort that we recorded on New Years eve 1989 on a cassette tape.

Fast forward a few years and on a snowy Christmas eve I found out Don was alone.

That would not do.

I drove down in a nice Chicago snowstorm into town, picked him up, barreled into a couple snowbanks (it was icy), until we finally celebrated Christmas at the pub that stayed open until close to 5 am.

I moved to California.. he moved to China and it wasn’t until a decade later that we saw each other again at a summer baseball game in Chicago.

He had met a Chinese girl and got married.

Started his own business and was loving the culture and lifestyle there.

He was in demand for his engineering skills and his business was taking off.

He never wanted to come back.

And it’s the last time I saw him.

Because a few years later he suddenly died… from a massive heart attack.

The Chinese sent his body back to the States.

His wife stayed in China….

And the business was gone.

Because without Don there was no business….

And his wife and family had to rebuild their lives completely.

Now every Christmas Eve, or whenever Billy Joel comes on with the Piano Man, I think of Don… and the wish for one last song.

And one more chance for things to have been different