all i want for chris...

all i want for chris...

                                                           

  Regina and I drove to Florida earlier this month to visit Nora, Jeremy, Leo and Dallas.  Our leased Ford Edge was packed with suitcases, Christmas presents and other cargo, including a cooler with bottles of water, and, a bag of celery sticks.  

  As we left Louisville, we managed to get to Elizabethtown, Kentucky (35 miles) before we pulled over for a pit stop.  But, after that break, we drove all the way to Brentwood, Tennessee before once again deciding to stop.  A newly built Publix served our purpose for stretching our legs.  

  I do not know if Publix Supermarkets offer better quality products than my go-to Kroger store, but, their presentation is superior.  I get a different vibe walking around while checking out the deli, bakery, and, seafood displays.

  But, it was while I was looking at the sodium content on the label of  a can of Frescatrano Olives that I spotted a familiar sweatshirt.

  Raymond Shields was wearing the red and black of the University of Louisville. The cardinal logo was in the center of the sweatshirt and I didn't hesitate to introduce myself to him.  I explained my purpose, turned on my recorder and proceeded with some off the cuff questions.  He was amenable.

  Did you go to U of L?

  Yes, he confirmed.  I got my Master's there.

  Do you live here in Nashville or are you passing through like us?

  No, I live here, he said.  My parents moved us here in 1974 and then my wife and I stayed when we married.  I had a job transfer to Memphis for 18 years, but, otherwise, we've lived around Nashville.  

  Tell me about your career.  What did you do to pay the bills?

  I spent 45 years in the banking industry, he recalled.  I did every job there was to do in a bank from teller to president. I started right out of high school.  

  You say that like you really enjoyed your work.

  I'm one of the few people I know who got to do what he wanted to do, he claimed, and I did it for my whole career.

  Christmas is coming up and most of us have some great memories of past holidays .  Do you have a favorite holiday memory?

  My favorite Christmas memory is when all three of my children were old enough to understand Christmas, he smiled.  We would go to the candlelight service Christmas Eve, then, go home and watch, It's a Wonderful Life.  

  I watch that movie every year to this day.  Christmas mornings are pretty special too.  

  You better believe it, he agreed.  I would fix breakfast every Christmas morning and then we would open gifts. I loved it.

  Now that you have retired, how about goals?  Have you made some new ones?

  Well, I am hoping our children give us some grandchildren, he said optimistically, but, that hasn't happened yet.

  How about a goal that you control?  

  Oh, sure, I want to go to Australia and dive with Great White Sharks, Raymond said.  I started diving in 1989 and I just love it (tours off the coast of southern Australia are available for such an excursion). 

  Raymond, Merry Christmas to you and your family.

  Thanks, same to you.

  Soon after we arrived at the Comfort Inn in Port Richey, Florida, I was talking with a man behind the counter who assisted the night clerk.  He proved to be rather interesting.

  My name is Shorty and no, I can't tell you my last name, he said.  Cops don't do that. 

  I understand.  So, you are a retired police officer?

  Yes, I am, he confirmed.  I worked in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and, here in Tampa.  A total of 17 years.  Now I work here as the night auditor.

   Shorty, tell me a good cop story.

  Oh, jeez, I've got a ton of them, he responded.  

  We can narrow it down.  Share a story that I can write.

   That narrows it down a lot, he laughed.  Well, there was this time in Tampa when we got a call from an apartment complex where a wife said her husband was having an episode.

  What does that mean?  An episode.

  He was having mental issues, he informed me.  He was dressed in underwear and a table cloth and he thought he was Superman. I got to the scene and the man wouldn't come out from behind the sofa because he said I was made of Kryptonite.

  That's a sad story.  You probably have had a lot of those in 17 years.  

  I did, he affirmed.  But, this one ended well.  We eventually confronted him and convinced him we were there to help.  He had failed to take his meds.  We saw him later in a follow up visit and all was well.  He is a business executive and he was normal the second time we saw him.

  Do you have a significant other?

  My wife died from cancer a few years ago, Shorty replied.  I've got a son who is 31.   

  Tell me what you do in your spare time.  Do you have any hobbies?

  I do military modeling, he smiled.  

  I don't know what that is.  

  I make military miniatures, he patiently responded.  I started when I was 13 or 14 and I've never stopped.  I also do 3-D printing.  Some of my modeling work is in a couple museums around the area.  I've got a display at one in Zephyr Hills, just a few miles from here.  

  Do you like to travel?

  Sure, he shook his head affirmatively,  I own two Honda VTX-1300's and I travel the east coast, the Carolinas, not much in the west, but, I'd like to do that.  Most people talk about going to Europe, but, I just want to see all that's here.  That's my number one goal.  I especially want to see Yellowstone.  

  Christmas is about three weeks away.  When you think of the holidays does anything special stand out?

  Probably my first Christmas with my son, he answered.  Him waking up and the two of us playing with his toys.  I played with them more than he did.

  Shorty no last name, thanks for your time and stories.  

  Nice talking with you.

  Coming up:  another oddities, observations and ?'s;  a look back at the Paris Olympics as seen through the eyes of an 11 year old and 9 year old, and; another POS.

  And, finally.  Like Phyllis Diller, the late Joan Rivers had some very funny lines.  Here is a Christmas thought from her.

  The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.