Here's something you might be interested in.
The year was 1981. As I walked down Crawford Avenue in Grantville where I grew up, the little green truck I had seen so often slowed down alongside me. We had never formally met, but I had seen him around, for after all, we were from the same neighborhood...
He calls out to me, "hey, so you want to go hang out?" Usually leery about jumping into automobiles with perfect strangers, this was an exception. For some reason I felt extremely comfortable with this older, long-haired man who strongly resembled Dr. Johnny Fever from the old sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. I jumped into the truck and off we went. We spent the whole day together, beach, park, he took me to meet his mom, and at the same time I discovered that his niece happened to be one of my good friends.
We instantly clicked, and over the years we became the best of friends. His family became my second family and vice versa. We had laughed and fought and made up and i was a pain in his ass but he loved me unconditionally, and I him.
I knew something was wrong last July when we went to see Megadeth together, he seemed to be losing his voice and it appeared difficult for him to speak. This had to have been frustrating for an old rocker who is used to screaming at the top of his lungs at a rock concert. I advised him, as anyone would have, to see a doctor and have it checked out. He assured me he would. I grew more and more concerned each time I spoke to him on the phone and it seemed to be getting worse.
Fast forward to Metallica concert, last December. My concern continued to mount when I watched him struggle to be heard. He whistled his way through the show, gotta love his determination to participate and make noise along with the rest of us. The times we have spoken on the phone since I left San Diego have been few and far between due to his difficulty to speak and be heard.
Today is Mother's Day and I found out that my dearest friend is stricken with cancer. It was what I had feared all along. They have operated, then radiation therapy, then we wait and see.
I love you, Don...don't leave me...
The year was 1981. As I walked down Crawford Avenue in Grantville where I grew up, the little green truck I had seen so often slowed down alongside me. We had never formally met, but I had seen him around, for after all, we were from the same neighborhood...
He calls out to me, "hey, so you want to go hang out?" Usually leery about jumping into automobiles with perfect strangers, this was an exception. For some reason I felt extremely comfortable with this older, long-haired man who strongly resembled Dr. Johnny Fever from the old sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. I jumped into the truck and off we went. We spent the whole day together, beach, park, he took me to meet his mom, and at the same time I discovered that his niece happened to be one of my good friends.
We instantly clicked, and over the years we became the best of friends. His family became my second family and vice versa. We had laughed and fought and made up and i was a pain in his ass but he loved me unconditionally, and I him.
I knew something was wrong last July when we went to see Megadeth together, he seemed to be losing his voice and it appeared difficult for him to speak. This had to have been frustrating for an old rocker who is used to screaming at the top of his lungs at a rock concert. I advised him, as anyone would have, to see a doctor and have it checked out. He assured me he would. I grew more and more concerned each time I spoke to him on the phone and it seemed to be getting worse.
Fast forward to Metallica concert, last December. My concern continued to mount when I watched him struggle to be heard. He whistled his way through the show, gotta love his determination to participate and make noise along with the rest of us. The times we have spoken on the phone since I left San Diego have been few and far between due to his difficulty to speak and be heard.
Today is Mother's Day and I found out that my dearest friend is stricken with cancer. It was what I had feared all along. They have operated, then radiation therapy, then we wait and see.
I love you, Don...don't leave me...
I'm not sure you could relinquish the lard base that makes them so smooth and tasty (a vegetarian remembers!) But you could offer me a verde mole recipe, and magics her next freewrite prompt :)
Oh you're good.
Are you only out for my mole recipe or can I trust you beyond that?
LOL you two are something else. all we're missing is Lallaw. i just wish i could stay awake past midnight ;) i love you guys. thank you for the support. thank you for the thumbs up, mindy.
if you look back, you'll see that i was referring to sdaniels when i made the "selling cars' coment. i don't believe i said anything nasty to you until i felt you insulted me. however, i see that you've taken the plunge. good for you. two thumbs up.
Mindy, how dare you slither into a blog grieving someone who may be dying. Have a little respect, give it a rest, and go crawl back into your own blogs. We don't need to deal with you, and surely your life is rich enough that you don't need us.
SD you really just brought tears to my eyes, my friend. thank you so much. he is such a character. the similarities between him and johnny did not end in the looks department ;), the stories are endless. i just wish i was not so far away to be able to bring him more comfort. thank you for reading. xoxoxoxo
Much love, magics, I'm sorry about Don, but I'm so happy to see you writing. I'll wish Don good thoughts, and I hope that you continue to write. I love your heart.
Ok, retraction to Mindy possibly in order. You are attempting to give magics support? That is big of you, storyteller. I retract my "slithering" comment in good faith. This should be a space of contemplation and sincere wishes for recovery.
Thank you, refried. The same goes for you. It really felt good to write this, and I'm happy that you to the time to read. xoxoxoxo
SD, you are awesome. I'm not sure that I could offer that olive branch.
If I can, I'll go!
And it's important that Josh crashes the party, then he can blog about it ;)
And, assuming that I've aced my mole recipe by then, I'll pass it on, gladly.
yes you do and yay i can't wait! i make a fabulous vegetarian lasagna. will refried be joining us this summer? hmmmm?
omg. i posted that at 11:11 ;)
I am so sorry to hear this, Magic D., and our thoughts are with you and your friend at this time; I'm sure your extensive experience in the medical field, and the caring you bring to your work as well as friendships might help him at this time. I also had a friend who passed away after a long battle with throat cancer, and very much hope that things are different for Don. He sounds like a handsome gent. Watching WKRP in Cincinnati as an adolescent, I always had a bit of a crush on Johnny Fever. We're rooting for you, Don!
refried: My loyalty depends on how many pumpkin seeds I have to toast, chiles I have to roast, and JUST how many spices and seeds I am going to have to grind in an extra large mortar. Kidding! Sauces are about love, and I'll grind away--sans coffee grinder, if necessary.
Magics: I think she'll be back on soon. And per our agreement, I now owe a piece of writing. refried graciously provided the prompt, and I started about two "paragraphs" last night before keeling over myself.
Well, that's up to our "refriend," as Josh calls him, but it looks like we have myself, you, lallaw, and Mr. Board for a potential poolside chat once you get into town this summer. I know it depends upon when you are able to make it, and whether or not I make it out of the country in August. However, I am very interested in that lasagne recipe. You may not know this about me, but I hoard recipes, even if I only try a quarter of them :)
Magics5, that was, well...magically spoken from the heart with the clarity and beauty of a true writer's voice. You've only just begun. And I too had a crush on "Dr." Johnny Fever...and I hate to think of "him" suffering in any way. I'm sincerely sorry to read you are both dealing with such heartache. If there is any way you can return to SD before August please do! We'll set the pool party around that and bring Don. SDaniels, one of my favorite authors, (AND used car saleswomen, apparently) is a given as is Mr.Board & Co., poolside... RefriedG is also of course invited...it's beans, they're what's for dinner! LOL...seriously....some of these posters must be missing a Prozac dose or two. What happened while I was gone?!... RefriedG, I was shocked to learn your blog of last month was not the winner...someone must be sleeping with the Editor. :)
But Magic, you've written a winner this month. It is as true as your heart.
OMG!!!! welcome back lallaw...you are TOO funny, my dear!!!! yes, you have missed quite a bit around here. good grief. thank you for reading, and the sweet words. I can't wait til summer!! SD i will just have to show you how i make my lasagna as i don't follow a recipe. but i will be happy to do that. refried, you simply MUST come, and bring your beans ;) ok, and yes, Josh too, even though he doesn't read my stuff. j/k josh. you'll be there. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
This story was so sad.
I wanted to make some kind of joke, because that's my way. I was going to say "Too bad you didn't get into a car with Venus Flytrap".
or I thought about writing "Have you checked? Maybe it's Megadeth that is causing all this cancer."
After all, just look at the name of the band: Mega - death!!!
Anyway, everyone should have a Dr. Johnny Fever in their life. Guys like that make the world fun, and at their rocker core, they have good hearts.
I'm sorry to hear about him and his condition, magic. Let us know if there's anything we can do for ya.
Oh. And one last thing.
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Booger!
aww thank you...and it's ok because i know it IS your way. nah, i doubt it was the megadeth...lol. in fact i think my love for all things metal is what is keeping ME so...ahem...young ;) if anybody wants to see pics of don and me at said concerts you can find them on myspace in my affliction banned/metallica albums. they are very precious to me especially now.
myspace.com/danielleshanna
because i know you forgot already ;) mmmuah xoxo
Wait, can I be in on this reunion? I want to meet you all. I am having a birthday party for my husband in August (50). My house, pool, tiki theme, fun fun fun!! Maybe, if you are all here you could come? And Josh could crash it!!!
MsGrant i would love to meet you finally!!!!! yay all us reader readers uniting...how fabulous!!!!!! xoxoxoxo
Hey, Magics, did you realize that you and your fellow posters are published in the hard copy Reader? They print comments on the writer's blogs, and you, refried, SDaniels, and lallaw have all been in there. I have, too!!
Alas. We get no hard copies of the Reader in Baja. I'd volunteer time to change that if they were open to the idea.
Heck, I could probably sell add space from businesses here if they were open to the idea...
OMG you mean the fab 5 (that's us u know) are in the reader mag? i wish i could see that. but i am 1300 miles away. i miss the reader so much. i wonder if i can have it mailed to me lol i doubt it though...save it for me k? i'll get it this summer when i see you all! thanks MsG....how awesome are we? ;) is my blog in there?
Just comments they think are interesting enough to publish. They're in the Letters. They don't show them on the web-site under letters, though, just in the print copy. It's fun. The first time I saw one of my posts printed in the Reader, I read it and laughed. Then I saw "MsGrant via e-mail". And I realized, hey, that's me!!
lol thats so cool....what were we talking about that they printed? I MISS SAN DIEGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't remember them all. They are in there every week. Since there are only a handful of people that post anything worth printing, consider yourself published if you write something they like!! Next time you are in, I'll let you know. Refried is in every week.
I had no idea. I reckon I should canvas the Reader for help in bringing copies closer to the border.
well like i said, the fab 5 :) i wish i could get it here lol....
and thank you, MsG....ur awesome.
I'm a little late here...but magics, I could mail you a hard copy if your comments are ever in there again (refried, that goes for you, too). --alas, I recycled the one where our comments about commercials were included, from Josh's discussion.
MsGrant, the tiki theme sounds divine! Inspires one to try to shrink back into that vintage Hawaiian shift dress ;) I too look forward to meeting this colorful cast of characters, and still plan to toss JB's notepad into the pool, lest he pen something evil about us ;)
Let's hope that June gloom loosens its grip a little earlier this year!
LOL SD where have you been anyway? That would be awesome if you could do that...wow.
aww you know josh by now ;0
he's bound to say something a little off color about us, but i'm sure he loves us all the same. just an ASSumption on my part though (as mr. board would say)
mmmmuah! xoxo
Wrote you in private, dearie. Let us know how Johnny Fever is doing, if you have heard any news.