Some times these are too difficult to write.

It’s with profound sadness that I pass along the news that one of our fellow Rangers Rounding 3rd friends needs as many thoughts, prayers, good wishes, and luck that we can send his way.

Nathan Whitten, who posts here as John Ed Webb, is now in hospice. He told me he didn’t know how much longer he has to live.

He’s allowed me to share a bit of his story. In early November, Nate had to check himself into a hospital because his back pain was so severe he couldn’t move. Sadly, they found a large mass at the base of his spine, as well as swollen lymph nodes all over both lungs and his liver, and spots at the top of his spine.

His cancer is incurable. He is in excruciating pain and his only escape is sleep, which, thanks to the tranquilizers they have him on, allows him to sleep twenty hours a day.

I met Nathan at a Rangers game a number of years ago and we have gotten close through email, sharing a love for music, especially Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits. He turned me on to The Band and John Hiatt, sending me CDs. I shared with him early versions of the Four Baggers songs Eli and I were creating, getting a lot of very constructive feedback and praise.

I make a living writing words but in times like these it’s just too difficult to string together any words that do justice to the life of a good man.

Nate told me sitting up to type hurts too much and he might not be able to do it anymore. Hopefully, he can read our posts. Please join me in sending our love his way. He could use it and he will appreciate it.

Thanks for being a good friend, Nathan. You got to see the Rangers win it all. Maybe two impossible things can happen, and you can see them win it again next year.