Sometimes we are blessed in this life with finding a long lost friend when we meet someone for the very first time.

Dick Cech was such a friend for me. We couldn't have been more different. He smoked, I have asthma. He was politically conservative, I have a bleeding heart that I wear on my sleeve. He was 25 years my senior, and used to joke that "if only he was 6 months younger..." We loved each other dearly from the first moment we met, the way long lost friends do.

Dick had lost part of one lung to cancer and suffered from emphysema, which he firmly believed had nothing what-so-ever to do with his lifetime habit of heavy smoking. Still, he loved to sing, and so do I.

One summer evening, around a campfire, he taught me the song "Tell Me Why..."

Tell me why the stars do shine.
Tell me why the ivy twines.
Tell me why the sky is so blue,
And I will tell you just why I love you.

Because God made the stars to shine.
Because God made the ivy twine.
Because God made the sky so blue.
Because God made you, is why I love you!

From that day on, we sang it together, in harmony, deeply grateful for the gift of our friendship.

Then one night Dick told me over the phone that his cancer had spread to the other lung. We cried together, we sang our song, we cried some more. Dick began to tell me about his children, although in all the time we had been friends he had never mentioned them before. He told me that his greatest regret was loosing track of his son, never being as good father to him as the child deserved. They hadn't spoken in seven years, hadn't seen each other in over a decade. Dick didn't know where his son lived, last he knew "Bill" was homeless somewhere, but he honestly didn't even know if Bill was even still alive.

For the first time, I heard Dick weep.

As we talked over the phone, my heart breaking, I searched the internet, looking for a man with Dick's son's name and birth date. I found three. Without telling Dick, I wrote letters to all three, asking to be contacted if I had found my friend's long lost son.

About two weeks later, the phone rang. I had found Bill. He was at a homeless shelter in Missouri. He was astonished to hear from anyone, and had thought his father long dead. Although he had serious misgivings, he talked with me for a very long time about how the relationship had deteriorated, but that he always regretted not reconciling with his father. He knew Dick had done the best he could, and had forgiven him for his shortcomings. He also felt himself to be unworthy of his father's love or forgiveness.

I asked Bill if he would like to come to see his father, and told him gently that his father was dying. I offered to take care of getting him here, if he wanted to visit his father one last time.

Bill wasn't sure he could face his father, but after a few days, he called back and said he would come. We agreed that he would call his father on the phone and let him know that he was coming, but would leave me out of it. This was to be my last secret birthday gift to my dear friend Dick.

The next day Dick called me, in tears. He was so overwhelmed with joy that his son had called "out of the blue" to ask if he could come and visit. Dick had forgiven his son for the bad choices he had made, but still had trouble forgiving himself. "Like father, like son," I thought.

Finally, the million details of getting a homeless man with no ID to an airport three hours from the homneless shelter and onto an airplane were dealt with. Dick picked his son up at the airport, still not knowing my secret, and they came to my home for their first dinner together.

While it wasn't all roses, they did talk through their regrets, shared some laughter, shared some tears, and found a level of peace and healing that night, over homemade chili and apple pie. In the warmth of my kitchen, Bill shared the secret he and I had kept. The joy in Dick's eyes, and the thankfulness in his hug were the sweetest gifts he could have given me.

Dick passed away a few short months later, after a terribly painful struggle. Bill came to the memorial service and sat with me, and together we cried, with no regrets.

As Dick's ashes were interred, I sang to his friends, and most especially to his son...

Tell me why the stars do shine.
Tell me why the ivy twines.
Tell me why the sky is so blue,
And I will tell you just why I love you.

Because God made the stars to shine.
Because God made the ivy twine.
Because God made the sky so blue.
Because God made you, is why I love you!

I really think that dear God above
Created you just for me to love.
He picked you out from all the rest,
Because he knew that I'd love you the best.

I still hear Dick's voice singing along, in harmony. .