Mr. Reed

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this incredible person is gone. Yesterday my mom called to tell me that Jim Reed had been killed in a car accident. I made her say it twice because I couldn’t hear her, and I really wanted to be sure I heard her correctly. The Reed family has lived across from my parents for more than twenty-five years. I practically grew up at their house. If Julie (their daughter) wasn’t over playing with me at my house we were over at her house, or roaming the neighborhood, playing in the trees with the other neighborhood kids, taking walks in the woods at the “dead end” or to “the gate”, building clubhouses out of old junk we would find. . . she was and is a dear friend of mine. So to hear that her father is gone is like losing a member of our family. He was such an incredible friend and neighbor to my parents, always kind and helpful to anyone in the neighborhood who needed a hand.

The picture I have posted here is of Julie’s dad, Jim (aka Mr. Reed. . .I don’t think I ever called him “Jim”, sounds so informal to call the parent of a friend by their first name) and Julie’s youngest daughter, Caroline. I borrowed this picture from Julie’s blog. It is really how I will remember him. So kind and gentle. . . always with the grandkids. I think almost every time I’ve been home with my own kids I’ve seen him outside with one of his granddaughters, just walking around, hanging out with his girls. He will be so missed not just by his own family, but by our neighborhood and our community. It is a terrible shame and a horrible loss. He was only 61.

We will miss you, Mr. Reed.