Ed passed today.  He was my step dad since I was ten or eleven.  He and my mom got married about a week after they met.  Ed and my mom had a good marriage.  They laughed a lot, loved a lot, cooked a lot, traveled a lot and yelled a lot.  Most of the yelling was around meal time and erupted in the infamous “one butt kitchen.” Usually while meals were being prepared.  As soon as the food got into the mouths, thought, the yelling was forgotten and the laughter erupted.  Mom and Ed were each other’s partners and helpmates.  They had a lot to keep up with.  Mom had us three and Ed had his eight.  They met all the challenges life dished out.  They did a good job. I am proud of them.  My favorite Ed-ism is his quip he made one day out in the driveway of his house when I’d just arrived on my Motorcycle form Albuquerque, all loaded down with strapped on bags.  “Four thousand dollars and it won’t even stand up by itself” is what he thought of my mode of transportation.  Another thing I always remember is when Bob and I were engaged in an intense battle of trash can and wadded paper basketball tossing and Ed came out and just plunked in like ten in a row.  “You just have to be consistent” he said.  I have never mastered that.  Ed had a good heart, a good smile, and a contagious laugh.  He was a stand in there, stand up man.  Ed made my life better.  Goodbye Ed. Rest in peace, enjoy that huge spacious kitchen up there, and give my love to Skye, Tim, Mom and Nancy……