Sam Poole's heart

This picture is from Tucker's football game Anne and I attended (with Megan and Joe) in New York a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, the doctors don't want me to travel this weekend; its parent's weekend at his school.  When I attended Kent, just a few years ago, a teammate, Sam Poole, fell ill from a heart disease necessitating a  heart transplant.  During the next three years, I distinctly remember his heart changing two ways....

Sam and I became friends and kept in touch now and then until he died 7 years after we were graduated from Kent.  When I first met Sam my forth form year, he was a touch hard edged.  I remember experiencing some amount of hazing and ridicule from him, mostly in the good spirit of prep school upper to lower form discipline.   Sam became very sick, so sick that he required a new heart.  While he was away, we weekly remembered him in many ways, but particularly within the incense fragranced walls of St. Joseph's.  A few years later, Sam returned with a new heart.  An aside, I was shocked that he played on the football team-new heart and all!  With the new heart, he was tender, compassionate, thirsty for life, even spiritually awakened.  One day in the locker room, he took the time to show and explain the scares.  I distinctly remember his big smile.  Sam had a big heart.  I learned from Sam.