Life Is Truly Precious

Sunday January 25th, 2009 - West Allis, WI

I’m feeling sick to my stomach right now even though I didn’t eat anything sour. Earlier today I learned that my baseball card acquaintance Richard Grayson passed away just last week and it really threw a wet rag on what was otherwise a very fun day. This really rots.

Today was the day for the monthly sports card show at Gonzaga Hall in West Allis, WI that’s been going on for years and years. I decided to go mainly to hang out with my two friends Richard and Dennis who are both my age and very good guys. We usually go for a sub sandwich or something after the show and it’s always fun to look at those old cards.

Richard Grayson was a friend of theirs who lived in Illinois that I met through the other Richard and Dennis. We didn’t actually hook up all that many times but we did on several occasions over the years and he was nothing but fun and a great guy to hang with. He was smart and funny and loved sports and we all just really hit it off anytime we got together.

If there was a big card show in Chicago Richard and Dennis would call me and say they were coming down and then all four of us would hang out afterward and watch a game or talk about cards or just talk about life. Richard Grayson was a year older than us but very much in our wheelhouse as far as the cards he liked to collect and his points of reference.

Our most recent visit was last summer after a big card show in Rosemont, IL. I was not gigging that week and the four of us got together for pizza and really had a blast. He was in extremely good spirits even though I knew he had been dealing with cancer for a while.

The other Richard and Dennis were selling what cards he had left so he could liquidate his collection to help pay medical bills and all that fun stuff that goes with cancer. He was not complaining about it and in fact was very open about his condition and how it all was changing his whole life. It was uncomfortable at first but then it was actually fascinating.

Richard Grayson was fascinated that I was a comedian and liked to ask questions about that. He wanted to come see a show and said he knew by listening to me at the table that I would be funny. I told him I’d be glad to get him tickets anytime he wanted but he said he wanted to ‘wait until I’m feeling a little better first.’ That never came. Now it’s too late.

I heard he’d passed away third hand from another card dealer at the show and it took me to a bad place almost immediately. It had been months since I’d seen him and like I said it wasn’t like we were close friends. I wish we were. He was a super example of what a true winner should be. He was a solid husband and father and liked to spend time with friends.

But we were only acquaintances who hung out a few times. I never got a chance to get to know him better and he never got a chance to see me perform. I never met his wife or any of his kids but even still it made me extremely sad to hear of his passing. It’s just wrong. I don’t understand how this planet works and if there’s a reason for this I sure can’t see the big picture. It sure makes me grateful for the time I spent with him and the laughs we had.