Well That Was Wayyyy Kewl

Comfortably Numb (Gilmour, Waters)

"Hello?Is there anybody in there?
Just nod, if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Come on, now, I hear you're feeling down.
Well, I can ease your pain…get you on your feet again.
Relax,
I'll need some information first.
Just the basic facts….
can you show me where it hurts?”

This was a very fun weekend. I sense a trip to the ‘Betty Ford Clinic’ may, in fact, be in order.

Some of the highlights included NOT actually strangling the young store associate at the Lowe’s paint department…

We had a delightful mini-steak meal / snack while listening to the tragic story of the Costco sample woman who was killed by a faulty appliance made by slave laborer in China or Kentucky. It was one of those Third World nations.

Well, the rather amazing part of this evening was watching people who were clearly impressed and could not wait to have their homes inspected by the nice gentleman who wove his tragic tales of faulty smoke detectors and cheap, shoddy construction.

I think P.T. Barnum had an expression for this. Several “suckers” were being birthed right there in the banquet room of the Black Forest Restaurant.

But the Best part of the weekend happened at a place I never would have suspected…the company picnic.

For much of our lives, we interact with people on so many different levels. Some are the best of friends, while others float in and out as people we ‘kinda’ know. I spend time with ‘old friends’, much more literally these days it seems, and with folks I sort of know.

There was definitely laughing, dancing and drinking…and a clear absence of ‘political jockeying’ that can normally be seen at these functions.

More than anything, I enjoyed a conversation with a person I have just recently begun to appreciate. The conversations started out pretty light…how are the kids, dogs, golf game and continues on.

At some point, I shared that my biggest plan after I retired was to go home, perhaps indulge in some wacky tobacco and listen to “Dark Side of the Moon”, all of which I did accomplish.

When you toss out any albums done by Pink Floyd, and so on, I usually expect to get a pretty similar reaction from my engineer friends. The usual reaction is somewhere between “I love the videos!” to “What song did they do?”

I listened to a response that was so full of passion and with a much deeper appreciation of Floyd’s music than I have had the pleasure of hearing in a long time. The conversation went from casual banter to a real sharing of thoughts and ideas.

My admiration for this person went well ‘off the scale’ as of that evening!

Later, I got really drunk and danced the night away.

I heard that I had a really good time and was even witty at some point.

Go figure.