Hello friends,
The other day my friend Stu was playing poker at a local casino. He was having a great day. He had been there about three hours and was about $550.00 to the positive. But what was even better was he had thrown the wood on three different hands to this cat who looks like Kenny Logins and fancies himself the poker king of Tulsa. Little did he know my that Stu thinks he is the poker king of the world, and Kenny didn't like being throttled in front of all those idiots who feed his stupid ego. My friend made this guy so mad he was about to explode. Kenny stormed away from the table only to get whacked again when he returned 30 minutes later. Anyway, Stu is setting there shuffling his chips and staring at the board when someone says "Is he alright?" Stu looks up to see the old man that was playing two seats to his left, leaning on an empty poker table with his back to everyone. Stu stood up and said "You OK mister?" The old man looked around at Stu. His nose was bleeding. Stu said the man had a look of fear in his eyes like he had never seen before, then the old man fell straight back. Stu tried to catch him and they both went to the floor. Now there is blood coming out of his mouth. Stu says "Hang on buddy" and comes to the realization that he has no idea what to do. But Stu being resourceful, he comes up with a "plan" (and a good one I might add) He looks up at the crowd that has surrounded them and says "I don't know what the f**k to do" (that must have been comforting to the old man) Stu watches as the old man stares up at him with dull, gray, scared eyes. Stu is wishing someone else would have stood up instead of him. Then at the precise moment, Stu puts part 'B' of his "plan" in to action. "Don't you die on me, Mister!" he yells at him. Then the old man died. This all took place in under a minute. It looks like Stu's "plan" didn't quite pan out form him. Did I say it was a good "plan"? I meant it was a stupid "plan". Good job Stu. Stu didn't feel like playing cards any more so he cashed in his chips and went home. Chumping Kenny Logins didn't seem like such a big deal now.
I guess the old man had an aneurysm.
About 3 or 4 days later I asked Stu what the old mans name was. Stu didn't know. So I got on-line and looked up the obituary's. After some fancy detective moves, between the paragraphs of achievements and successes of all the other people who died that week, I found this ~
'Wolf, Armin Henry, 74, died Tuesday. No services planned. Cremation Society'
That's it? Man, is that the ending to his 74 years on this planet? He lives almost three quarters of a century, doing God knows what all, and that's what he gets, 'Died Tuesday. No services planned'? It seems kinda anti-climatic, don't you think? I'm not saying that it's wrong or bad or someone dropped the ball here, I'm just saying what a let down. I don't know what I was expecting. Fireworks and a brass band I suppose.
But truly friends, what a way to go. He got up that morning, combed what few hairs he had on top of his wrinkled old noggin', brushed his dentures and said to himself "I'm gonna go to the casino and throw the wood to the chumps." No fight with Alzheimer's or cancer. No drooling all over his bib in some flea bag nursing home. No your to old to drive. Nope, not Armin Wolf, he was lookin' for action. Can you dig it? You know there is only one other thing I would rather be doing when I die than playing poker, and that's showing some sweet, young, sexy thing how I like to make messy, sticky, steaming hot, brownies. A hole pan of'um. Mmm-mm. Doesn't that sound delicious?
Adios Armin, I hope you were holdin' the nuts when you got to the gate. If not, I'm sure you bluffed your way in.
Here is one for you Armin Wolf.
Adios,
~e~
The other day my friend Stu was playing poker at a local casino. He was having a great day. He had been there about three hours and was about $550.00 to the positive. But what was even better was he had thrown the wood on three different hands to this cat who looks like Kenny Logins and fancies himself the poker king of Tulsa. Little did he know my that Stu thinks he is the poker king of the world, and Kenny didn't like being throttled in front of all those idiots who feed his stupid ego. My friend made this guy so mad he was about to explode. Kenny stormed away from the table only to get whacked again when he returned 30 minutes later. Anyway, Stu is setting there shuffling his chips and staring at the board when someone says "Is he alright?" Stu looks up to see the old man that was playing two seats to his left, leaning on an empty poker table with his back to everyone. Stu stood up and said "You OK mister?" The old man looked around at Stu. His nose was bleeding. Stu said the man had a look of fear in his eyes like he had never seen before, then the old man fell straight back. Stu tried to catch him and they both went to the floor. Now there is blood coming out of his mouth. Stu says "Hang on buddy" and comes to the realization that he has no idea what to do. But Stu being resourceful, he comes up with a "plan" (and a good one I might add) He looks up at the crowd that has surrounded them and says "I don't know what the f**k to do" (that must have been comforting to the old man) Stu watches as the old man stares up at him with dull, gray, scared eyes. Stu is wishing someone else would have stood up instead of him. Then at the precise moment, Stu puts part 'B' of his "plan" in to action. "Don't you die on me, Mister!" he yells at him. Then the old man died. This all took place in under a minute. It looks like Stu's "plan" didn't quite pan out form him. Did I say it was a good "plan"? I meant it was a stupid "plan". Good job Stu. Stu didn't feel like playing cards any more so he cashed in his chips and went home. Chumping Kenny Logins didn't seem like such a big deal now.
I guess the old man had an aneurysm.
About 3 or 4 days later I asked Stu what the old mans name was. Stu didn't know. So I got on-line and looked up the obituary's. After some fancy detective moves, between the paragraphs of achievements and successes of all the other people who died that week, I found this ~
'Wolf, Armin Henry, 74, died Tuesday. No services planned. Cremation Society'
That's it? Man, is that the ending to his 74 years on this planet? He lives almost three quarters of a century, doing God knows what all, and that's what he gets, 'Died Tuesday. No services planned'? It seems kinda anti-climatic, don't you think? I'm not saying that it's wrong or bad or someone dropped the ball here, I'm just saying what a let down. I don't know what I was expecting. Fireworks and a brass band I suppose.
But truly friends, what a way to go. He got up that morning, combed what few hairs he had on top of his wrinkled old noggin', brushed his dentures and said to himself "I'm gonna go to the casino and throw the wood to the chumps." No fight with Alzheimer's or cancer. No drooling all over his bib in some flea bag nursing home. No your to old to drive. Nope, not Armin Wolf, he was lookin' for action. Can you dig it? You know there is only one other thing I would rather be doing when I die than playing poker, and that's showing some sweet, young, sexy thing how I like to make messy, sticky, steaming hot, brownies. A hole pan of'um. Mmm-mm. Doesn't that sound delicious?
Adios Armin, I hope you were holdin' the nuts when you got to the gate. If not, I'm sure you bluffed your way in.
Here is one for you Armin Wolf.
Adios,
~e~
2 comments:
E:
I came across your post about my Dad's death quite by accident. It was a little shocking and a little comforting to read your words. Shocking because of how you describe the fear in his eyes. Comforting to know that there were people there trying to help him in his final moments. Please make sure that Stu knows how grateful our family is for trying to help. It means a lot to us. The reason why Dad's obituation in the Tulsa paper was so sparse was that he was just passing through Tulsa. In his hometown of Green Mountain Falls/Colorado Springs, Colorado, we had a worth obituation describing his life, written by Dad's youngest daughter.
If you are interested, here it is:
Born October 20th 1934 to parents Carl & Erna Wolf. Survived by daughters Lynn Bartle (Mark), Terri Covert, son Bruce Wolf (Tanya), and daughter Heidi Halverson (Sean), grandchildren Wesley Bartle, Chelsea Bartle, Jessi Covert, Taylor Covert, great grandchildren Dillon Shay, and Ruby Kadamus-Bartle, and Sisters Ellen Boyd and Ruth Drake. Mike was preceded in death by Spouse of nearly 50-years Anna Merl Wolf and Sister Esther Hilpert. Mike spent time in Chadron Nebraska where he played football for Chadron High. He served in the USAF in Vietnam as a Forward Air Controller and continued service as a pilot obtaining the rank of Major upon retirement. Mike was a proud retiree of the military and enjoyed playing poker and watching the Denver Broncos. He also spent a majority of his time travelling to various places across the country in his RV. Mike was a strong and determined individual with a never give-up attitude and a great zest for life. He will be missed by many. A private family ceremony will be held.
Sincerely, Lynn Bartle
First of all, thank you for writing this post about my dad. Although it made me cry when I pictured it all happening, the last paragraph was very much a genuine re-enactment of his life. He was not from Oklahoma, only there briefly and then on his way back to his home in Colorado. Everybody who knew my dad knew that he loved to play poker more than anything else, and his family who loved him was comforted by the fact that that was how he went out.
For the record, he was a retired Air Force Major and he flew planes in Vietnam.
You were so right when you said "no drooling in a nursing home" and "no bout with alzheimers or cancer"...any set backs he did have he never let stop him.
Rest assured, he lived a good life doing exactly as he wanted right up to the very end.
On a final note, my dad would have been proud to read this post that was written in his honor, so again, thank you. The tears I cried at the end of reading it were very much the happy kind ~
Heidi H Armin (Mike's) youngest daughter.
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