A Man I Know...

Here's just what I wrote while waiting in the hospital one day, thoughts of a Man I know...

There was a man in the neighborhood who seemed to have it all going for him, you know, life! He worked as a salesman for a local car company usually Monday through Friday from what I could tell, with what seemed to be good hours to raise his young family, for all apparent observations he had good health, 2 kids, 1 dog, 2 cars, one for his wife who taught school at a local elementary school not far from their ranch home. This young couple was very good with their kids, I know because on the weekends you would see all 4 of them, one daughter and one son outside with their parents in the yard working together. They would rake leaves, play with the dog, play catch, and they would laugh! The man of this house would laugh the loudest, and that's when I would usually notice just how close they all seemed to be. They lived in the neighborhood like the rest of us, just a middle class family making a life for themselves and making friends all along their path.
As I watched this family through the years it was obvious this "man of the house" had many influences. When weekends and holidays came along he was right in the middle of the action. He was definitely admired by his many buddies and their wives and families too. The wives all thought he was just so cute and funny because he would have funny stories or nicknames for each of them based on their personalities, or "twitches" as he called them. One he even called "Twitchy" for her need to always be doing something, and usually it seemed to backfire, for instance one year she planted some flowers a bit too early and she had to carry them all back inside the house when a frost was coming one night. He will never let her forget that, of course, her side of the story is a bit different, but thats how the story goes!
He was not only the "brain" of many ordinary trips or holiday festivities he was also the one planning tricks on all his friends on these journeys, usuallly the "weak link" or the "squirmish" among the group was the one that was selected for his next plot of ornriness. His favorite thing with any group was to pull a good practical joke on any unassuming "victim" in order to get a reaction, which would cause him to "belly laugh" and let out a howl of pleasure like no one I have ever seen. He took pure joy in being able to pull it off, acting innocent only until he couldn't contain himself another moment, and he would then cover his mouth and let out little snickers until the big belly laugh would explode when they finally figured out who the one was that had "GOT THEM!"
Now this man seemed to work hard and he seemed to have such practical and wise insight into things, able to see through the "hog wash" as he'd call it to the "real deal" going on. As the stories go from all of his work buddies he had "Neil-isms" that shed light on so many things in the company. His latest famous Neil-ism was just this week while discussing hospital signs along the path to the employee area and how they were stating the mission statement, ISPIRE and how each letter stood for something.... and his line was; "I believe in mission statements as much as I believe in the little tooth fairy." Priceless lines like this were common coming from this man of wisdom and humor!
He worked hard and played hard too. He enjoyed those kids of his so much, I think he'd do anything for them within his power and he did too. He taught them both how to excel in sports, in school and in life! Although it must be said, his son seemed to get the business sense and the daughter the sense of humor and love for people and making them smile. He was so full of knowledge and tried to share it with every chance he got, often times beyond their interest or need to know. Everything from why is the sky blue, the stars and where they are located to directions to all kinds of history or politics and what he knew about each topic. There wasn't a topic around that he didn't know about, and believe me we all tried to "stump" him along the way and years of trying, to no avail.
Now back to his playing hard.... he loved a good vacation as much as the next guy and let me tell you, once off the ground he was ready to go. But in my observations it would seem that those summer trips with his family would take a while to get on the road, because he was so careful before leaving his home, he would usually go around the block not once but usually two or three times coming back to make sure everything was secure. Usually to check an iron, a closed garage door or something of the like. This is where the neighbors usually enjoyed getting back at him, and made sure to take notice when he would wave good bye not once but two or three times... but it didn't faze him, he would just chuckle at himself and tell the whole family to wave real big at the neighbors again. Life was always an adventure for this guy, and he made sure to enjoy every minute of it...

Well, that's all for now.. but more to come of the adventures of a "Man I know." Enjoy!

Ellen