It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, The regular crowd shuffles in…

A good old friend of mine watched his wife of almost 34 years die this afternoon.

Dick “Matts” Mattson was my boss, colleague, and mentor when I worked in the athletic department at the University of Minnesota. A friendship developed over the 15 years we worked together in the crucible of big time college athletics. Many hours spent together, working hard, playing harder, and traveling across the country for games, equipment managers’ conventions and trade shows will create some great memories. Over the years Matts taught me the equipment business, how to travel 'in style' on a shoestring budget (Zubaz? Really?), a lot about how to treat people, and a little bit about life.

After working for and with Matts for 15 years I left the athletic department and we drifted apart. Upon hearing yesterday about his wife’s grave condition and dire prognosis I called him. Although we hadn’t spoken for 2 years, since the Gophers' inaugural game at TCF Bank Stadium, we were able to chat as if we had just spoken the day before. It is a true testament to the deep bonds of friendship that despite the fact that he was basically waiting out his wife’s final hours we were still able to talk for a while, laugh a little, and relate to each other so well.

I’m told that Matts’ wife Lu had been at St. Mary’s hospital in Rochester, under the care of the Mayo Clinic doctors, for the past 18 weeks. Her death obviously is unfortunate, but she died with dignity, on her own terms, with family able to say farewell. Matts found serenity in the fact that she would no longer be in pain and that her suffering would be alleviated. For that he told me he was grateful.

We aren’t all that fortunate. Life is uncertain. Death comes when it comes. Events like the one my friend Matts experienced today remind me that I need to let those that are near and dear to me know, each and every day, that I love and value them. I hope you’ll do the same.

Rest in peace Lu Mattson.

Life is indeed too short.

I heard the Billy Joel song, “Piano Man” not long after hearing of Lu’s passing. Like Billy Joel, I too make my living sitting at a keyboard. He gets more ‘bread’ put in his jar than I do in mine, but I digress.

To me the song “Piano Man” has always been about life’s unfulfilled ambitions, and regrets about dreams not pursued. I really like the song and it holds good memories to me. I found it fitting that I heard that particular song today after not hearing it for quite a while. Perhaps in addition to letting those I love know how I feel (so I won’t be sharing a drink they call loneliness), maybe I should be taking a little time to ponder what I’ve made of my life and make sure I’m at least fulfilling SOME of my dreams. I think I’m doing pretty well; lovely wife, great kids, job, and a nice home. But maybe, just maybe, there are a few dreams I haven’t pursued actively enough. Maybe there are a few things I can/should change…

WHO KNOWS?

I have a dream. Or, at least I think I do…

On August 28^th, 2011 the Martin Luther King Memorial will be dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, DC. That date will be the 48^th anniversary of Dr. King’s “Dream” speech. He concluded that speech with,

“…And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jew s and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

That speech, which took mere minutes to deliver, still has relevance today as Americans continue working towards making America a better country.

I can’t imagine being able to write and deliver a speech that ranks so highly in the canon of American rhetoric that it is ranked with:

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (Four score and seven years ago…),

Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech (Ask not what your country can do for you…), and,

FDR’s Inaugural Address (The only thing we have to fear is fear itself…).

I especially can’t fathom being so eloquent about a dream of such lofty ambitions. Hell, I never even have dreams; or at least dreams that I remember upon waking.

I took a course at the University of Minnesota that required students to do some analysis of our dreams. I mentioned in class that I didn’t think I dreamed anymore as I didn’t recall having a dream for 10 years. The instructor mentioned that we all dream, we don’t all remember our dreams though. He suspected that was the situation in my case. He had a few suggestions for me.

1. Before going off to sleep each night remind myself to remember my dreams.

2. Upon waking stay in bed for a while, relax, try to recall my dreams before starting my day.

3. Keep a pencil and paper by my bed to write down my dreams before arising.

Surprisingly, that semester, using the professor’s advice, I was able to recall some of my dreams, and no, none of them involved hot dogs chasing donuts nor trains entering tunnels (the classic cheesy old time movie cutaway denoting sexual activity).

My dreams, as I recall, were fairly unremarkable. Nothing like the dream Dr. King spoke of.

I’m pretty much back to springing out of bed, hustling to the shower, bus, and work, five mornings a week, so my dreams are largely forgotten. I do however share the vision of Dr. King’s Dream speech in my waking hours. I try to be open-minded and respect others views. I try to treat others as I’d like to be treated.

I try to be optimistic about the world even though it’d be easier to be pessimistic in the face of current events. I had a football coach once tell me that I reminded him of Nero, the Roman Emperor who played his fiddle while Rome burned. (my job was safe after all, they don’t fire equipment guys because the coach they work for has a losing record, they fire coaches for that)

I’d rather we lived in a country and world more akin to the one Dr. King imagined in his dream. If that means this old man still has a shred or two of youthful optimism, then so be it. An old guy still hoping for the best from mankind;

Who knew?