Last night I was telling my wife a story that I shan't ever forget (At least I hope not. I am forgetting more and more each day). We were talking about how we wish we had a swimming pool (We do this all the time every summer). I told her how one time, when Sip and I were riding our bikes through Montgomery (Which we did often), and were very hot.
We rode our bikes to Gazebo East apratments. We took our shoes, socks, and shirts off, and jumped in the pool and swam a bit, got out and rode back to our apartment (Though we may have lived on campus at this time.)
I love that simple story, and I love the simple pleasrues of life we all got back in the day. It got me to thinking about our friend Chuck.
Here is a man who was the first of us to leave college (Okay, he got kicked out, but who is counting?), the first to get a real job (which we all envied), first to get married, first to live in a cool home (duplex), etc. He was becoming the first grown up of us all! He never left Montgomery. Neither did I. Perhaps that is why news of him leaving Montgomery saddens me so. Were me and Chuck the closest of closeness? Not really. I ironed shirts for him in college, but he paid me a dollar to do it. I told him one time that the Coke machine was spilling out wuarters and he ran faster than I had seen a mad move in a while, to the coke machine, coming back with a tee-shirt full of quarters... but recently (thanks to our monthly get-togethers with him and Sip) we have grown a bit closer. He was the first man I went to when I found out my wife might have a miscarriage and he prayed with me and comforted me and gave me a soda and some candy. We go out to eat together more too.
The man is leaving, sometime soon. He is leaving a town he hasn't left in 12 years and I have been here the whole time with him. So him leaving will leave an empty space inside me. I likened his leaving to when Mullins left college. I brought this up friday night when we got together. The setting wasn't all that different either. We were outside, candles burning, a fire going, we had drinks, snacks, music and there was alot of smoke in the air...
I said that when Mullins left, here we were, 5 (well 4, chuck wasnt there) guys that really looked up to this clown. The man was our hero! And with little warning (we felt) he was gone. I thought I would never see the man again. He left a candle that Sip had made burning in his room, his empty dorm room, and that was that. So here is Chuck, leaving us as well. On to better things of course! On to being closer to family and on to better job prospects (And on to a better state; no income tax).
I wish the man NOTHING but the best, but wish that life could stand still sometimes...
17 comments:
A perfect sentiment, my friend.
I'm so glad that we've been getting together and sharing over these last few months.
I'm happy for Chuck, too. But, also sad to see him go.
Time marches on and so do we...
Amen.
Well said.
On leavings.
I’ve moved a lot of times in my life and very few have really moved me. One was leaving FU. Not the city, or the school, or anything else but a hand full of people.
I’ve not had the chance to see Chuck regularly in a long time but when I do see the guy it’s like seeing something special. Quiet and reserved with that wild undercurrent of spontaneous commentary from the unexpected regions of free association.
I miss the guy more knowing that the three of you don’t won’t have that extra support and voice in your mix.
Still like I mentioned to Jamison the other day, we live in an amazing time and maybe this move will help Chuck to chime in a bit more often letting the rest know the how’s and what’s of his life.
Jamison, if you don't start submitting thos hippo pics somewhere soon, I'm going to steal them from you and make all the millions you're missing!
The hippo-balloon pic is inspired genius, dude!
You see there is this snowman surfing on a volcano. The snowman is coooold.
The volcano is hooot.
Charles, I wish you all the best.
We've been hundreds of miles apart for years now so a couple of more doesn't seem like too big a deal. But it is nice to see that those near you will miss you.
For a man who has been traveling around the world for awhile now I can tell you with all assurance that it's great.
The first year is tough, though. There is lots of feeling out, the city, the job and the people, but then you start to grow into your new digs and its all gravy.
That was sad... :(
Thanks Sip. I want to, but everytime I get a hold of a few extra hundred dollars, all I can think is "boat motor" or "boat anchor" or "Boat trailer"...
I hear you my friend.
But, submitting the pics to a card company or something wouldn't cost you much.
All it would cost you is the print-outs, postage, and ink for any query or submissions letters you send.
Anyway, I just hate for the world to miss out on your art.
$400 to make 4 small post cards of 4 of my cartoons. Thats about 100 of each (the least quick copy shop will do for me, thats who Geroge Pudzit from chuch uses, he is a graphic designer from his home!)
The book Rachel suggested to me says your best bet is sending postcards with your art on it.
I have had the cash in hand a few times since I have drawn my stuff, but wasted it away on something stupid.,, or most likely something came up where we needed that extra cash (like when I backed into a rock wall at the Grove Park Inn... that money WAS going to buy me a boat motor, but now we have a nice looking back bumper.)
Anyway, I am sorry for turning the comments in a direction away from Chuck.
Can't you just buy a good printer and some better paper?
Screw trying to get into Hallmark. Print up some stuff yourself and sell them at local markets. Craft stores sell that crap all the time. In a couple of years you'll develop a name for yourself.
I'm not talking about self-publishing, here.
I'm talking about using the Artist Market, sending a portfolio to card, comics, etc. publishers and selling your work.
That doesn't cost much at all.
In all the time I've been submitting my book, I've probably only spent $100 total. Printing you own stuff and mailing it s pretty cheap.
Anyway, just trying to encourage.
And don't mind Chuck. He'll never see that post anyway.
my personality and habits make it almost impossible for me to move on Sipper.
I hate it about me, but it is true. I will go gung ho with something and get halfway there and just quit. Not because it is hard, but because I am satisfied with the status quo. It is why I haven't moved on to a higher paying job, why I am sitting at the same skill level on the mandolin as I was 4 or 5 months ago, why I am 'okay' at tennis, why I will work out and not eat right, or eat right and not work out. It is why I take much effort to make my front yard look great but let my backyard look like crap. Heck, when I was my car I will only do the outside and not the inside! I Have a nice new bed with no headboard or footboard and I am sitting in a "lewis and Clark" themed office that has nothing "L and C" about it except paintings and a flag in the corner, yet the plans (2 or 3 years ago) were magnificent.
I would say that fishing is the only thing I keep going at, but then again, I have a boat with no motor, not even a homemade anchor.
I dont know why I am this way, but I am... perhaps I should have made a seperate blog for this, however it sort of ties in with Chuck leaving, how he is moving on to bigger and better things...
This isnt being posted so youll feel sorry for me. Just a way of Jamison that even he doesnt understand.
I admire you for many reasons.
You, like me, admit when you feel a shortcoming and want to talk it out. That's admirable in my opinion. (Yes, I admire myself...Are you surprised?)
I am somewhat the same way, Jamison. I tend to not do things all the way sometimes.
I know what I need to do to "complete" something, but don't have the time, energy, or desire to do it.
It's hard to close the deal every time. For ME, it goes back to fear of success/failure.
If I succeed, the bar is set higher, which means it'll be even harder next time. If I fail, I'm mortified and embarrassed.
It's hard to be human...
Well, I'm a little late here. Jamison, thank you. I would have come even without you calling me a bastard. But, thanks for the emphasis. It made me realize how important it was to you.
I will now go blog my own.
Amazing how such a little derogatory remark can motivate a friend!
Good going, Jamison, you bast...
it is all I knew to do to get him to the blog...
Motivation to exceed is tough.
Everyone hits that wall and everyone knows they can get past it, it’s easier not to.
Jamison I think you could do so much if you just gave your self a little push to do one ting to completion. The best thing is that there isn’t a time line for you doing some sort of side project.
We can all do so much if we just throw our selves into the situation. Which reminds me that I have a new posting to add, more to come on that subject.
Chuck I’ll miss you because the other guys are going to miss you. Once you land in FLA your roots will set quickly and you’ll be running smooth in no time. We’ll just have to coordinate you making a visit when we get together again.
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