Gerald ........... By: Scarecrow76

((Just to give everyone a little context. Gerald and I met in 1992 and were instant best friends running from a "raid" with no fewer than 10 cop cars (at least while we re there before we took off through many back yards till we had to out run an old man with a gun and 2 Rottweilers and several other enemies we made along the way as we fled. We were the only 2 who got away. Gerald was always that guy who just wanted to be happy but never had a clue as to how to get there. We used to jam and play music together and get in minor trouble by my estimation as teenagers will and we were always there. if the other needed rescuing , help moving, needed money and the other had and could be fighting mad at each other but still lay it aside to help the other through some issue they were having. As we grew older and life evolved we finally chose 2 separate life styles and said things about each other neither one could take back. We tried to start hanging out again once our lives had settled when we were in our 30's but he had drastically changed to someone I am not sure I wanted to know and I am sure likewise was true as well. This is not a Mourning Song, it is just a page of life that might give someone a mechanical but at the very least realistic outlook on a similar situation that they may be facing and it is me celebrating the fact that I knew this man back when you could never ask to meet a better person and had more than a decade of him being my best friend. The Gerald I saw the last time I ran into him is not the person I remember but I will always consider the Gerald I knew the best friend of the me I used to be and sometimes still think that I am.>)

My best friend through school was Gerald Hollenbeck
He'd stand up for you and stretch out his neck.
When somebody wanted to see you get torn down.
He just wanted to be a happy guy who we thought never would leave town.
A real good guy that lot of folks frowned on but the guy they all could count on.
Even though he almost always went home alone.
We first met at a party that turned into a raid we were the only misfits who escaped.
Searching to find a hit song and a home.
And Gerald finally found those seeds that he'd been sewing.
Growing out of some of those wild things we all did.
He does not talk to anyone no more, he found the home that he was looking for.
But he buried the guy I knew when we were kids.
Gerry I sure thank God you were my friend.
We tried music until we failed real hard as we sat wasted in his front yard.
Or in the back of my mother's house when life brought us low.
Always there to help each other out while learning what this life is about.
Making the neighbors lose their minds in this world that turns so slow.
He started trying a little of everything trying to find what would be "his thing".
Looking for a father he had never had.
He started walking down roads I could not follow, I drank every liquor I could swallow.
Life makes a heart grow founder but distance feels so numb or bad.
And Gerald finally found those seeds that he'd been sewing.
Growing out of some of those wild things we all did.
He does not talk to anyone no more, he found the home that he was looking for.
But he buried the guy I knew when we were kids.
Gerry I sure thank God you were my friend.
Finally he could only think of himself and his best friend in me got shelved.
I guess we both out grew the friends that we had.
There were no "goodbyes" or "see you laters" kind of like a tot and tater.
I guess that's why the end made me feel so bad.
Looking back I see Gerald was varied but that was the cross he chose to carry.
You know I miss those stupid kids we used to be and we had known.
I'll always miss that friend of mine, but I've changed too that's the curse of time.
But I really hope he found contentment and a real home.
I think back and Gerry was a guy well worth knowing.
I hope he is free of misery and that he finds they years have been well spent.
I'm sorry that we are no longer friends we swore we would be to the end.
I hope is ugly self appreciates the fact I wrote these lines for him.
Gerry, I would have done it all again.
My best friend in school is Gerald Hollenbeck (from 1992).

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