Good "Semper Fi" Saturday, y'all.
Those huge black 18 wheeled debris trucks are all about picking up a plethora of hurricane debris up and down Hwy#40 and Hwy#25. Occasionally, driving by the neighborhood on the way to the hospital or back from it, I noticed a Merrywood favorite out in his front yard sprucing up.
John is one of those positive forces in everyone's life. Whenever I see him at a local community event, I never recognize him and with good reason.
I always expect to see him in running shoes, shorts, a polo shirt and his olive drab, Marine Corp cap worn smartly no matter what kind of yard work he's doing. A few days ago, I spotted him raking under a huge magnolia tree and decided to roll down the car window to harass him.
"You've got to be kiddin' me," I said. "How many pushups are you up to lately, dude?"
John walked over to the side of the road with rake in hand and replied that he lost count!
"How ya been?", he asked me.
"Well, I'm hanging in there... Not feeling as good as you look," I replied.
"How's about those situps? How many times a week you down on the floor crunching?"
"I don't know, Ben. I do a couple of sets every so often!"
"Well, I said, whatever you are doing, keep it up 'cuz it looks good on you!"
We "small talked" our way through Covid, the hurricane and the debris pickup, amongst everything else.
Just before I started to pull away, I once again complimented him on his robust 'tude on life.
With a smile, with rake in hand, John asks, "How old you think I am, man?" Betcha' can't guess!"
Before I could muster up a good answer, he throws out that he was born in 1935.
"I was born in 1935, Ben, so you do the math!"
"Dude, I said, now you have me at a disadvantage... Math was never my forte, man!"
With a laugh, I replied as I started to drive away,"I'll get back to you on that, okay?"
Checking my rear view mirror, I noticed as we both waved good bye, and he started back raking, I thought...
"86," eh?
Third cup of courage!
Copyright 2021/Ben Bensen III
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