Not-So-Normal Mom

We got a call last night that one of our friends, a brilliant professor and a wonderful man, died on Sunday. He was playing golf and had an aneurysm. I have been crying off and on since I heard the news. I know some of you may think I am an awful human being for saying this, but I can think of quite a few people I would rather see go than him. He was an excellent professor who always had time for his students. He was a rare professor in that he had a sincere love of learning and educating. When he saw me, he always paused to give me a scruffy kiss on the cheek, and always told me that I was beautiful. He was a good man. I am genuinely sorry that he has passed. My husband and I were talking about him last night, and we were laughing about the times when they were playing softball, and he would get so fired up that he would yell at the umpire and get kicked out of the game. It was his fiery Irish temper. Ahhh, Doctor Callahan. After firing off a steady stream of obscenities, he would walk by me as I watched the game and apologize for cursing in front of the kids. I actually found it amusing, and so did the boys. I also found it endearing that he apologized.
You know that song by Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young"? It's been stuck in my head since last night. I know that it's not true, that it's not just the good that die young, and that sometimes the good live to ripe old ages. I just can't help but think that it's a shame when people that have something to offer mankind, or at least our little corner of mankind, die and leave a hole in our hearts and in our minds. He made people think. He sometimes made people angry, but that's what opinionated people do. That's why I liked him.
I have said over the years that the reason why people cry when someone dies is because we are sad for ourselves. They have gone on to a beautiful place, and we miss them. We cry because we want them in our lives. This time, I am thinking that I am not only crying for myself, I am crying for all of his students, and all of the people that he could have influenced to love English and Literature. He had a lot more to give, and that's what makes me sad.
That's what makes me question the Universe. It seems that someone else could have gone in his place, and things would run a little smoother down here, ya know?