Were we really suprised?

Well the mid-term election is over and wow what a difference a day makes. I guess I'm getting old when you look forward to watching election results, I was anxious to watch it two years ago even though I knew the guy I voted for was not going to win. The left had to know that with such a big swing to their side two years ago that it was going to swing back the other way, and did it ever. I watched the returns with a friend of mine as I did two years ago and I remember watching President Obama giving his acceptance speech, I told my buddy that he has two years to figure out how to walk on water or I'm afraid he will be the next Jimmy Carter. The similarities are striking, Carter inherited a mess, lingering effects of overseas conflict, a terrible economy, an angry country. Back then it was Watergate that led people not to trust the government.

Watching the coverage the other night you seemed to hear a recurring theme, the middle and the south has swung back to the Republicans. Not so fast guys. I think south and the middle of the country has swung back to conservative values, mainly because they have gotten a good look at how the left wants to do things and it scared the hell out of everybody.
You also heard some funny stuff as well, the guy who won the Senate seat in West Virginia, said something very odd in his acceptance speech, "None of us expected to loose Senator Byrd but God had other plans." What??? He was talking like the guy was killed in a hot air balloon accident at the age of thirty. The guy was 93, were they expecting him to live to be 200???
The other was the head of the DNC, who made the rounds licking his wounds all night, said the democrats now realize how "closely divided" the country is. That gave me the same reaction as Will Ferrrell in Old School when he was dancing with his wife and the guy drops the F bomb in the song, did he just say that?
The President had a next to impossible job two years ago, now it is just plain impossible. I feel sorry for the guy but there are always lessons to be learned. Going back to President Carter, what did Regan do after he beat him? He let businesses go out and make money, he knew that the smartest people in business were not working for the government, they were working for themselves. As a former small business owner I know how tough it is and I also know that small businesses account for over half of the jobs in this country. Lesson learned.

There is always a lesson, especially in politics, and although the name Obama was not on a single ballot this fall, this mid-term election was about him and his agenda.
I did not vote for President Obama, not because he is black, not because he might be a Muslim, not because of his affiliation with the "pastor of disaster" Reverend Wright, not because I felt that he hated America, like some of the kooks thought. I did not vote for him because he was a half term Senator/community organizer, who has never held a real job in his life. I guess I felt that his first real job should not have been President of the United States.
Lesson learned? I hope so.

Memorial Day, remembered by a great war story

Allow me to share a story that was told to me some time ago by a very dear family friend. His name is Wesley Coletrane. He grew up with my father in Durham. He is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who now lives in Warrenton. When I owned my restaurant in New Bern he and his wife then lived in Emerald Isle, they would frequently drive over and have lunch with me and he is one of the best story tellers I have ever met. When the second Gulf war started we would watch the news together, it was like having my own personal military adviser. Now this guy did two tours as a Huey pilot for the Army Air Cav in Vietnam and as if that wasn't enough, ended up in the Airborne division at Fort Bragg. I guess landing helicopters under fire in the jungle was not enough, he then wanted to jump out of airplanes.
He recalled to me one day the retirement dinner for a General who was in WW II. The General started out as a Lieutenant and was one of the first guys to jump into France the night before the D Day invasion. As the General told this story he said that one of his first jobs was to find a Sergent that had battle experience. He found the roughest one he could find. He was also told that one of his first duties after he hit the ground was to find an equipment parachute that was yellow. The yellow parachute was designated for radio equipment. It was explained to him that it was vital for him to get the radio up and call in his position. Red parachutes meant machine guns and green was for ammunition.
He jumped from his plane, which was under fire, and landed in a field of tall grass. The tracers buzzed over his head as he tripped over his Sergent who was on his hands and knees looking for a parachute. "Have you found the yellow parachute? We have to get that radio up." The Lt. asked.
The Sergent did not even raise his head, "No sir. I'm looking for the red parachute."
"Sergent!" The Lt. barked. "We have to find the yellow parachute and get the radio working!"
The tracers whizzed over the field as the Sergent calmly replied, "With respect sir, you can't shoot no fuckin radio."
What a great story, and I hope I did it justice. Years ago Mr. Coletrane told me he was writing a book and I'm sure that one will be in it.
Thank you to all of our Veterans.

The Stoning of Soraya M

Well it has been a few weeks and i have to say that there has not been a whole lot to write about. Until last night. I decided o wait 24 hours to cool down. I usually do not let movies get me going but this one boiled my blood. I discovered this movie watching a Charlie Rose interview a few months ago. The title is The Stoning of Soraya M.
This is the story of a woman living in a village in Iran after the Shah has been removed and the Ayatollah has taken over. She is married to a man that no longer wants to be her husband. He wants to marry a 14 year old girl that was offered to him, by her own father, to get himself out of being executed. Soraya would not allow the divorce, despite beatings and her husbands demands to only take his two sons with him and leave their two daughters behind. Her husband then concocts a story that she had taken a nap in another man's bed. Now according to the Quran and the people in this village this is a crime punishable by death by stoning.
She is taken from her home at gun point and her arms are bound at her elbows, she is then forced to kneel in a hole and buried up to her waist. The villagers then stand about 15 feet away and throw rocks at her until she is dead.
After some online research I discovered that this still takes place. And like the perfect storm of anger after the movie is over I flip by PBS and there is the President of Iran explaining that his country's search for nuclear power is for peaceful purposes only.

Now I will be the first to tell you that our society is not perfect. This practice still goes on and it has long before, as some would like to believe, America screwed things up.

Now here is a representative of a people that some want us to make peace with. Here is a people that think it is a crime, punishable by an atrocious death, to take a nap in another man's bed. Here is a woman being pelted to death by rocks as the crowd chants "God is great!"
After watching this I say, fuck those people.

My right arm man

I know this title is a little misleading, we have all heard the expression, "my right hand man." This post takes me back to what General Robert E. Lee said upon learning of the death of "Stonewall" Jackson. He said, "I feel as if I have lost my right arm."

I have had to deal with that feeling, this time of year reminds me of it. I was watching The Ten Commandments last night and it reminded me of the right arm that I lost over six years ago. He was a Golden Retriever named Moses. The first time I watched that movie with him he perked up when he heard Yule Brenner say, in his famous tone, "Moses." Funny stuff.

The only thing that dog did not do was talk to me, he was the best.

I can also remember a funny story years ago. I was living in Greenville and a buddy of mine was in town for the night. The girl I was dating at the time wanted to go to Bojangles and get everyone breakfast. Moses was always ready for a ride and I suggested that she take him along. Well she took my truck with a pretty big order; 2 chicken biscuits, an egg-bo biscuit, a cheese biscuit, 3 orders of hash rounds, and 3 large sweet teas. Well the Bojangles she was going to was about ten minutes away. After thirty minutes I was a little worried. At that point she walked in the door with one chicken biscuit and one sweet tea, she slammed the bag down on the coffee table and exclaimed, "Ya'll are gonna have to split this f*@#ing biscuit!"

I walked outside and got the whole story.

Out of that whole order, she was shorted a chicken biscuit so she went back inside to get it. She said she was inside for no more than two minutes and upon her return Moses had eaten a chicken biscuit, an egg-bo biscuit, a cheese biscuit, all three orders of hash rounds, and had popped the lid off of a tea and was drinking it!

Needless to say I spent about thirty dollars at Bojangles that morning.

He was the best, but life has a way of working itself out. I am typing this with a little Beagle rolled up beside me and she is trying hard to take his place. The other night at work she stuck her head inside a discarded box of Bojangles chicken. Her head got stuck and she was running across the parking lot with the box covering her head.

That one did not cost me a dime.

Generation gap

I have no problem getting old, I mean, what is the big deal? Everyone gets a day older every day. I have had the opportunity, through my many career choices, to work with people who are much younger than me. And over the years I have worked with some interesting people. I have also developed some special relationships with some great people. I have mentioned in earlier posts that I once owned a restaurant. When I finally pulled the trigger and closed the joint there were five people working for me. Now most people look at a failed business venture as exactly that, a failure. I choose not to and I'll explain why. I still keep in contact with them, I have attended some of their weddings. Knowing that they still think enough of me to share their most special day, well, how can that be a failure?
There have been some very funny moments which is the point of this post. The looks that I have gotten after some comments were priceless. I remember telling my staff one day that I was thirteen years old when we got cable tv. I bet dinosaur bones have not been looked at that way. The conversation took place one day about taking a date to a movie and then turned into every ones first movie date. When I said that mine was Top Gun, a girl asked, "That movie was in theatres?" The best had to be the day a new kid named Josh was making a delivery. He backed his hatch-back to the front door and we loaded him up. When he closed the trunk I noticed the Led Zepplin sticker on his window. It immediately reminded me of the line from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, "All you have to do is put in side two of Led Zepplin four and she's all yours." Now that may not be the exact quote but his reaction was priceless.
"What does side two mean?"
I then realized that CDs have only one side and my reply, "Just forget it." Last I heard he was living in the Bahamas playing the guitar, he is a hell of a guitar player.
We all get older and you never know when someone may be looking to you for advice. That's when I just listen. You shouldn't be surprised but if you sit and listen long enough everyone will tell you everything. That may be when you relate a personal story or just give advice that you think is right. We may not all have children but you never know when you might have to be a parent. I have an advantage in that department, the sun rises and sets on my parents, they're good.
And if you're my age and want a funny reaction, just tell someone who is much younger than you, how much you paid for a gallon of gas when you were in high school. Sixty-five cents for a gallon of regular, that's right there used to be this stuff called regular (leaded) gasoline.
My staff asked me one time what my first job was. When I told told them it was driving a slide of tobacco using a mule in Granville County, well I think you can guess the outcome of that one.

Always remember so you'll never forget

I watched a television show the other day that put me in mind of something that I have not thought about in a while. Where was I on September 11th 2001? I was a month or two away from my restaurant's one year anniversary. It was a beautiful day, as usual I was running around trying to figure out how two keep two nickles in my pocket to rub together. That's what I did every day since the place opened. Two ladies walked in and asked if I had heard what happened. The television that I had planned to mount in the cafe that was still in the back room was showing the aftermath of the first tower collapse. I then called my father and asked what he had heard and he said the twin towers had been hit. He was in his car and was listening to the radio.
"Well one is gone." I remember telling him. He did not believe me. It took me a few minutes, but he then realized what was happening. I then set up the TV in the cafe and then the second tower collapsed. I then sat and watched, along with a couple of handfuls of customers the replays of that morning's events. The tower being hit, the towers burning, people jumping out of them, and then the towers collapsing. Awful.
I remember driving home that day, it was a gorgeous day. The sun was setting, you know how it is in the fall. The orange sky with a purple hue and not one contrail from an airplane, which usually cross the sky like tic-tac-toe games. That was eerie. The world felt so small at that point. I felt so small at that point. As I drove I listened to the radio and heard the replay of the members of the House and Senate singing "America" on the steps of the Capitol. I pulled off on the side of highway 43 and wept.

At some point that day I received a phone call from a friend that I will never forget.
"Well, what do you think?" He asked
I snapped right back, "I think we are going to war."
He laughed and repeated my comment to someone else in the room and they both laughed, I was pissed.
"Going to war with who?" He managed in between giggles. "They don't have a country. It's not like they have a navy or an air force."
I took just a second, befuddled that someone my age could be so naive. "Well, you better believe that we're going to war with somebody."

Not many days go by that I don't remember that conversation, because we did go to war. Twice. And nine years later we are still there. Now I know that no one has "forgotten" about that day. But I think people don't like to think about it. The world changed that day. September the 11th, 2001 changed everything.
And as I sit here typing this, I think of philosopher/novelist George Santayana's quote, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it it," I wonder if there is someone sitting in a cave planning the next one?
Oh, by the way, he is the same guy that wrote, "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

I'm wearing green but pinch me anyway, please

Okay, so I go to bed last night and I have a dream that my 89 year old grandfather, who has Alzheimer's, is missing. It is one of those dreams that feel very real, which if it is a bad dream, can be very unsettling. So I am not exactly the best employee at work the next day and I am sent home early. I drive two hours to see my grandfather, who is sitting in his chair like he always is. We visit and eventually I get a bowl of ice cream, I ask him if he wants some, sometimes he says yes, sometimes no. This time he says yes. We sit and talk, his repetitive questions are more frequent now, I still answer them like I haven't heard them before. He can remember, give or take a day, how long it has been since my last visit, which are more infrequent now I am sad to say. He asks if my father still works at the post office, which he never has. The stories he remembers with amazing accuracy are from his youth, which is kind of cool. Those are the stories I really enjoy. We sit and talk for a while and then I walk into the kitchen and my mother is there.
"What are you doing here?" She asks.
"Just having a bowl of ice cream with Pa Pa." I reply, yes at my age I still catch myself calling him that.
She gives me an awkward look, "But he is still missing. What are you talking about?"
I turn and quickly walk back into the room only to find my empty bowl of ice cream.
I wake up a little disturbed. It was all a dream.
Maybe it was my homemade spaghetti sauce I ate before I went to bed. Maybe I'm going crazy.
Today is St. Patrick's Day and I will be wearing green. But please still pinch me to remind me that I'm not dreaming.