This morning, your wife Lily, your family, and your friends said goodbye to you, dear friend, but that was never our way. There is no goodbye between best friends when they part; only ‘see you soon’.
Like the rainbow in the sky above, the greater the storm that you pass through, the brighter it is when you come through it. Like the best friends we were, we are, and always shall be, we may have faded in and out of each other’s lives over the past 60+ years, but we have never lost touch or loosened our bond of closeness, and we never will. Like, true blood brothers, our twin shadows merge into one body, and we will stay forever close.
Friendship is a mutual agreement to like, to understand and to share all things through good and bad, but being a ‘best friend’ is far, far more. It is a covenant between two soul mates, between two of a kind. Akin to a marriage between husband and wife, being a best friend is a bond which only God can break, and He never would, because like the colours of the rainbow, its brightness and presence in our lives represent the love of today and the promise of tomorrow.
Until we meet again, Tony, allow me to sing you my last song to travel alongside you until you reach the Gates of Heaven. It was recorded by your favourite singer, Elvis, and is sung today by your best friend, Billy Forde.
It will remind you of your wife, Lily, your children, your best friend and all those friends and neighbours who loved you dearly because you gave them your most precious gift of all; your love, your life and your heart. It is a song that embraces eternal love between one person and another. It encompasses ‘Today, tomorrow and forever’.
Your best friend, Billy Forde