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A Brawler And A Lamb
People will surprise you
I had a friend who passed away a few years ago. He was a hard drinking, brawling guy of Scotch heritage. He was my ex-husband’s best friend. I had a love/hate relationship with him.
On the one hand, I enjoyed talking to him. I always learned something since he was very smart and had a wide variety of interests and unique perspectives. Even after my divorce, we remained friends. I’d meet him for lunch. We usually had Chinese food and he refused to let me pay.
On the other hand, he was an alcoholic and a womanizer. He got into fights and several times I saw him with bruises on his face. Twice my ex bailed him out of jail, which caused stress in our marriage.
The reason he was put behind bars? For public intoxication. He always eventually paid us back but I was appalled by this behavior.
So I had an ambivalent view of the man.
However, there were reasons I remained friends with him despite his bad habits.
He was divorced. Despite his inner demons, he always supported his children. He lived very shabbily but never failed to make his payments and, if he wasn’t in jail, he had his children every other weekend. He helped them with schoolwork, took them out for meals, and avoided alcohol and women. I met them for lunch a…
