Page Three

On of Bobs favorite sayings to me when we were talking about my kids was "I wasn't worth a bullet when I was twentytwo". He came from a house of privilege, and made himself into the human he was. He told me many stories about his younger years, most of which I won't repeat. I will tell you about Yella Godamighty, and Purple Jesus. Here on the coast, even back then the young folks liked to drink........a bunch! I'm sure some are familiar with the trash can mixes, well these were a southern version. The alcohol at the beach was clear moonshine, at about 180 proof or a lil higher. If you dumped a gallon or so into a cooler full of ice and lemonade, you had a drink that when you took a sip you could only say, Godamighty! Grape koolaid was the mix for purple Jesus. I remember a call I got from my sister one night telling me to come home, Mom wasn't going to make it through the night. I called Bob first thing in the morning, to tell him I couldn't make it in. He told me he needed to see me before I left town, and it was kinda on the way so Mrs. C drove me to the shop. His wife had quickly cut me a paycheck, and he and his son Mike, tried to give me cash to travel on. Mrs. C then drove me 15 hours through a damn ole snowstorm in the mountains so I could tell Momma I loved her one more time. Not bad for a southern Belle! It took almost a week for Mom to pass, and then the funeral too. I was gone a while. I called in to the shop, and was told to take care of family, but don't forget where home now was. I missed you too Bob. One of his other sayings was "Don't mess with them doctors, sooner or later they will kill you." A lil more background here. I have a bit of a handicap. I am blind in one eye, and don't see well out of the other, and have been since about eight years of age. Before that I simply didn't see well. A time came when I began to have some light sensitivity in my only good eye. It got so bad that even on a cloudy day, and indoors I would wear very dark glasses. I could only take my boat out at night to avoid the glare. I went to all the doctors, and finally convinced them the problem they couldn't find was in my blind eye, not the good one. I had lived through something like this once before. I did my best at work, but it was very hard. I got rides to and from by my wife. I remember being scared that I would lose my ability to make a living. The time finally came when I had to have the bad eye removed. On the last day I worked before surgery, Bob took me off to the side for a chat. He said to me, that I shouldn't worry about the future, because I always had a job with him, even if he didn't know what it would be. Continued.