Day 12

Day 12...

Back to a regular format of sorts, we're going to skip from our prompts from Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and talk a little more personally. Yeah, I know, you thought I was getting personally involved already? Not quite as much as I planned, so here goes...

"It was a dark and stormy night"... no, wait. That's a scene from Peanuts.

"And they lived happily ever after".... dang. Fairytale ending.

Who knew writing could be so... easy? I guess when you have a lot of random thoughts, along with a lot of life experiences you're not afraid to share, combined with the internet, it is somewhat easy. Even more so when you're not concerned how many people are reading, as long as one other person does I am fine with writing more.

I was thinking earlier about how it takes all kinds of people to make this "life" thing work. I've been lucky in that I've known a wide variety of people in my lifetime. School, work, hobbies: I've made friends from each that I am still close with, and there's some I'd run screaming from if I ever saw them again.

School friends? Not so much. I got along well with everyone (I think?) since I was the Class Clown.Yeah, imagine that. One hundred and thirty two people in our graduating class, and I got 130 votes for female Class Clown. Not too shabby, people even then thought I was humorous. I remember getting the picture made for the yearbook. Robin Ferrell, a preacher's son, and me. We posed in the men's bathroom, I stood on top of the toilet in the last stall and he sat on my shoulders, and my crocheted Mr. Bill doll sat on my head. LOVE me some Mr. Bill.

Work friends: yeah, some keepers and some creepers. Still friends with the kids of the people my Grandma Jarvis worked for back in the 70s, I worked there in the summers and then after high school for a few years. There was one kinda crazy woman we worked with, Vanessa something.... she once asked us if we had any old false teeth laying around at home (WTH?) coz she wanted to pull one out and replace one she was missing from her partial. Yeah, not looking her up ever.

Facebook helped me find some friends from my Broyhill furniture days. Girls I played softball with, guys on the company team I kept score for and helped coach. The kids loved those days, they made friends with the other players kids and Mike is even still in touch with one or two of them I think. We had a blast at the company tournaments, LOVED the year the dummy in HR gave me a signed check that was blank so we could go to lunch wherever. Western Steer in Lenoir, where I convinced the cashier to write it for $40 over the cost of the meals because it was all the money the company gave us for the day. So we went and bought beer later. Another crazy chick from that place too: the woman who brought unbaked Brown and Serve Rolls to every company meal. Really?

Mountain Air Cargo days.... I just can't quit you people. Made a lot of friends there, still in touch with many of them. Good times on the lake with Robin and Cindy and whatever pilots/mechanics were in town for training. Nights out on the town with Mrs. Brockman's little Peter, Rob Butler before he hit the lotto, Tim Bastian of aerobatic fame, Frankie the Stud Proctor. All kinds of fun, in spite of the occasional complaint from management when people showed up hung over. Hey, they're adults, not our fault they couldn't handle their booze. Halloween parties almost every year, and the company Christmas parties were LEGEND. After-party water gun fight in the hallway at the Adams Mark, seeing a VP chasing a billing clerk around while he was in his boxers and her in her nightie? Good times, but we got asked not to come back. Fuddy duddies. The crazy man there? Had to be the weekend Maintenance Controller. No name, but everyone knew old Bill was loony. I'll never forget the "guy with a machete and an automatic weapon" that he told us about on a Monday, which turned out to be a drunk squirrel hunter with a knife and a shotgun, poor guy got lost and showed up at the airport. Bet Bill scared him worse than he scared Bill.

Piedmont Aviation. God, I love you people. I miss you every day. Well, most of you. There's a few jerks still around, lots of good people too though. That Arnold Booth guy, Milton, Dean-o, Petree. Miss the ones that left since I did, but I still stay in touch with you. Markus, Sweets, Schwartzie, Andy McBaker, Hudson Hawk. God knows half the highlights were from Don Allen. We could tell stories for days about him. He wasn't crazy, but he was nuts.

That's just a few of the tales from my earlier years, I'll save some good stuff about my current job and the friends I've met through racing and the internet for tomorrow.

Lesson 12: Never take for granted the friendships you made over the years. And with any luck, your experiences also taught you which weirdos to cross the street to avoid.

718 to go....