On Tue, 6 Nov 2012 20:44:37 -0800, "Anti Sandy" wrote:

Serge Dasara was a friend of mine. When I tell you that I have had few real
friends in my life, that should give you some idea of how important that was
to me. I met him and Mme. Anaïs in person once, when I flew back east a few
years ago to visit my aunt and other friends. During the trip, I checked my
voice messages and found a nice, cheerful message from Serge, saying he was
looking forward to our meeting and that he hoped I was having a good trip.

The day we got together, we went out to a very nice dinner of Peking duck,
and spent the rest of the evening at his apartment chatting about various
things including, of course, our cats.

Now and then he would call me to see how I was doing or tell me about
something going on in his life. We talked about the sewing he was doing. He
was also very interested in how I was doing with my gastric bypass surgery.
After Mme. Anaïs went to the Rainbow Bridge, he asked me how to know when it
was the right time to have another cat. "When you feel the desire to have
one," I said. "I feel that way NOW!" he said. "Then it's probably time!" I
said. Not long after that, we learned that the Two Sisters had adopted him.

Serge called every so often, even though I rarely called him. It was always
a treat to hear from him, and one day I realized that this must be one of
the things that friends do: keep in touch with each other. Seems obvious, I
know, but I haven't had a lot of experience with that. I learned a lot from
Serge about what being friends means.

I got to talk to Serge the day before he died. I think it was after he went
to the rehab place. Later, when I got a message from Gramby that I should
call her right away, no matter how late I got the message, I thought that
maybe someone was ill, but it never occurred to me that she might be calling
about Serge. Of course, it was about Serge; she was calling to tell me that
he was gone. I still feel the sense of loss very strongly, but I'm glad I
got to have him as a friend.

Anti Sandy


Serge was certainly one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure
to know, and obviously he touched a LOT of people's lives, outside of
RPCA.

He was, officially, a Very Nice Person, indeed.

Lorelei and Gandalf