Tuesday, April 30, 2013

HOW TO KILL THREE AND HALF HOURS AND REMEMBER SOMETHING


As you know by now, I make a trip up to Albany twice a year to attend a statewide meeting of all 55 chapters of NYSARC (Formerly: New York State Association of Retarded Children). It lasts for a few days in both the early spring and mid-autumn.

To get there we occasionally fly and mostly drive, making the drive in those three and one-half hours with one stop on the thruway. So what do 4 men talk about in that time: sports, children, business and our wives. and of course: medications.

There is one caveat for me in all these discussions: have some fun and make people laugh. One thing that scares me is sitting for that long and being serious, I need to laugh and have a good time. Fortunately for me, the guys are all good sports, funny when they want to be and we all laugh along. These are 3 very intelligent men, good hard workingmen at one time, who are now good and retired! Except for one, my old friend Ken. Ken is in his 70’s and looks like he is in his 60’s, plays tennis and skies, is skinny and I hate him. (Kidding)

But with his youthful vigor, skinny body and wonderful personality, his wife has resorted to pinning his keys to his sleeve. It seems that he is always losing his keys and or cell phone! Yes, strong and healthy body, but unfortunately, he drifts. Yes drifting is his passion, forgetful, maybe, but he did contribute one thing to the mix. He introduced me to Arthur Avenue and Little Italy! Yes, the man has introduced us to pork chops with vinegar peppers, and a glass of red. He eats rabbit, a habit he learned from once forgetting his address and having to live off of the land.

Although he is all set and connected with his keys on the way up to Albany, he is not on his way home. This is when we all worry. No one pins his keys on him and so we fret and worry. However this time he is driving and this means he needs to remember, he can’t leave Albany without remembering his keys. So we will call him on his cell right before we leave, even if he is sitting with us.

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