Groundhog Day
Did you ever see the movie Groundhog Day? The premise of the movie is a guy living the same day over and over attempting to make it come out better. It is a pretty good movie starring Bill Murray if you are interested.
Wednesday was one of those days for me. We just bought a new Civic coupe mostly for Lauren to drive to school and wherever else seniors seem to always be going. We hadn’t made the first payment. She left for school early Wed to pickup her boyfriend for school. We had a couple of words before she left. She had permission to do this once per week and this was the second time. He lives across town and we were concerned about her being out before daylight by herself and not getting enough sleep from getting up so early.
About 15 minutes after she left, we received a call from her. She had an accident and was very upset. The accident was only 5-6 blocks from home. The new car was totaled, but her only injury was to her wrist (it turned out to be sprained). When airbags deploy, wrist injuries are common, evidently. The other driver had no license, no insurance and no English. Lauren received a ticket for failure to stop at a red light. She only remembers the light being yellow, and then the crash. I spent the next few hours with her at the Dr Office, X-Ray facility, etc. Then my time was spent with insurance calls, city auto pound, body shops, claims adjusters, notaries, etc, etc.
At 2 PM I took a break from all of this activity for a root canal. Yep a @#$%^^ root canal. That took about 2 hours of the day and then I was back at the city auto pound numb face and all. That my tooth started to feel better, was the highlight of my day.
I suspect you have had a few of those days also. Would like to wake up to the alarm clock and try to get everything right this time or at least change the day a little bit. I guess I would have to roll time back to childhood and take better care of my teeth. My advice for the day………floss.
After we all calmed down and everything was sort of OK, the next day, I started thinking about a former friend. Harvey Lowe was my first boss when I finished college. I moved to Austin, as soon as finishing school to put wife #1 through school and graduate school. The job market in Austin was really tight and I ended up working at the then very small hospital in Georgetown. I have never in my life met anyone that enjoyed every minute of everyday more than Harvey. His love of and enjoyment of life was amazing. He was probably in his early 30s. His wife Brenda worked in the hospital also. They were probably the happiest couple I have ever known. If there is such a thing as soul mates, they were. They had been trying unsuccessfully for years to have a baby, but were absolutely happy in spite of this. Alice and I went out a couple of times socially with them, and they were great fun.
Mostly though, I knew Harvey at work. He and his coworkers were all practical jokers extraordinaire and were always trying to out do each other. The money was really bad, but it was the most fun I have had on a job to this day.
I left the job after a few months when I found a job in Austin. I had been commuting to Georgetown everyday by motorcycle during a very rainy fall and was ready for the change. Actually for the next 2 years, I worked 2 jobs most of the time. All night and weekend taking call at a hospital and then either as a substitute teacher or substitute lab tech in the daytime. It might have been the last time I had money in the bank. When you work all of the time and your wife is a serious student there is no time to spend money.
While at one of my daytime jobs, about 6 months after leaving Georgetown, there was some time one day in the lab to read the paper. On the second or third page was a headline “Local Hospital Lab Manager Killed in Auto Accident”. It was Harvey. The funeral was that day and too late for me to go. I called my old coworkers. Harvey had bought one of the new Honda cars (this was 1974), they were smaller than the Cooper mini, of today, but without safety features. He had been to a going away party for an old friend. He, I am sure had been drinking, as he loved beer. He apparently went to sleep and ran head on into another car on an overpass over I35 close to home. They had just found out Brenda was pregnant. Maybe because I was young and didn’t know what to say, I never contacted Brenda. I have always felt sort of bad about this, but I am sure she had much support from a wide circle of friends.
I have been thinking a lot about Harvey the last few days. I still miss his stories, jokes and most of all his love of life. And I am really glad Honda now builds safe cars.
Wednesday was one of those days for me. We just bought a new Civic coupe mostly for Lauren to drive to school and wherever else seniors seem to always be going. We hadn’t made the first payment. She left for school early Wed to pickup her boyfriend for school. We had a couple of words before she left. She had permission to do this once per week and this was the second time. He lives across town and we were concerned about her being out before daylight by herself and not getting enough sleep from getting up so early.
About 15 minutes after she left, we received a call from her. She had an accident and was very upset. The accident was only 5-6 blocks from home. The new car was totaled, but her only injury was to her wrist (it turned out to be sprained). When airbags deploy, wrist injuries are common, evidently. The other driver had no license, no insurance and no English. Lauren received a ticket for failure to stop at a red light. She only remembers the light being yellow, and then the crash. I spent the next few hours with her at the Dr Office, X-Ray facility, etc. Then my time was spent with insurance calls, city auto pound, body shops, claims adjusters, notaries, etc, etc.
At 2 PM I took a break from all of this activity for a root canal. Yep a @#$%^^ root canal. That took about 2 hours of the day and then I was back at the city auto pound numb face and all. That my tooth started to feel better, was the highlight of my day.
I suspect you have had a few of those days also. Would like to wake up to the alarm clock and try to get everything right this time or at least change the day a little bit. I guess I would have to roll time back to childhood and take better care of my teeth. My advice for the day………floss.
After we all calmed down and everything was sort of OK, the next day, I started thinking about a former friend. Harvey Lowe was my first boss when I finished college. I moved to Austin, as soon as finishing school to put wife #1 through school and graduate school. The job market in Austin was really tight and I ended up working at the then very small hospital in Georgetown. I have never in my life met anyone that enjoyed every minute of everyday more than Harvey. His love of and enjoyment of life was amazing. He was probably in his early 30s. His wife Brenda worked in the hospital also. They were probably the happiest couple I have ever known. If there is such a thing as soul mates, they were. They had been trying unsuccessfully for years to have a baby, but were absolutely happy in spite of this. Alice and I went out a couple of times socially with them, and they were great fun.
Mostly though, I knew Harvey at work. He and his coworkers were all practical jokers extraordinaire and were always trying to out do each other. The money was really bad, but it was the most fun I have had on a job to this day.
I left the job after a few months when I found a job in Austin. I had been commuting to Georgetown everyday by motorcycle during a very rainy fall and was ready for the change. Actually for the next 2 years, I worked 2 jobs most of the time. All night and weekend taking call at a hospital and then either as a substitute teacher or substitute lab tech in the daytime. It might have been the last time I had money in the bank. When you work all of the time and your wife is a serious student there is no time to spend money.
While at one of my daytime jobs, about 6 months after leaving Georgetown, there was some time one day in the lab to read the paper. On the second or third page was a headline “Local Hospital Lab Manager Killed in Auto Accident”. It was Harvey. The funeral was that day and too late for me to go. I called my old coworkers. Harvey had bought one of the new Honda cars (this was 1974), they were smaller than the Cooper mini, of today, but without safety features. He had been to a going away party for an old friend. He, I am sure had been drinking, as he loved beer. He apparently went to sleep and ran head on into another car on an overpass over I35 close to home. They had just found out Brenda was pregnant. Maybe because I was young and didn’t know what to say, I never contacted Brenda. I have always felt sort of bad about this, but I am sure she had much support from a wide circle of friends.
I have been thinking a lot about Harvey the last few days. I still miss his stories, jokes and most of all his love of life. And I am really glad Honda now builds safe cars.
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