• 

  SAC Administration Bldg.

  

  Me 🙂

  I got a call from a friend that I met when he was my student, at Santa Ana College. He is being considered for recognition as an outstanding individual in the community and graduate of the college. He asked me for a letter of recommendation to be sent to the college. It sounds simple, doesn’t it?

  I wrote his letter with high praise, which he deserved, but didn’t know who to send it to. I decided to just take it to the college myself and hand it to the person it was supposed to go.

  I drove to the college and parked in the visitor parking lot, right in front of the

  administration building. I knew exactly where I was going, after all, I taught there for 30 years. It was a short 100 foot walk to the front door. Now, I must tell you that I don’t walk very well. I normally use a walker if I have to walk any distance, because walking creates a lot of pain in my legs and back. I didn’t think I needed the walker. Big mistake. When I taught there the letter would have gone to someone on the second floor. I must also tell you, I had not been on the campus since I retired, 27 years ago.

  Standing up straight and trying to look like a man of distinction, I walked in and asked the person at the first desk I came to, who was in charge of this award? They said they didn’t know and asked me to go to the registration desk, so I did. She didn’t know who the letter would go to either; she asked the lady who seemed to be in charge of the area. She told me it would be the student something or other office, in room 207 located in the Village. I asked where and what was the Village? I was told it was a series of temporary buildings at the very other end of the campus.

  I started walking to find the Village when the lady who was in charge of the registration area caught me and said she would show me the way. She took off at a pretty good pace and it was one of those things where you can’t really get there from here – there was no straight line. They are constructing new buildings everywhere on the campus, and she led me through a series of narrow passages around all the new construction sites. I was really humping it to keep up with her, and let’s just say I was very uncomfortable but I kept up.

  Reaching the Village after an interesting tour around a lot of construction, we couldn’t find the room. My lady guide told me to wait, and went into one of the rooms, I think she made a phone call. She came out and said they had moved the office. Luckily for me, the office was still in the Village, somewhere. It turned out to be just a hundred yards away.

  We found the office; my nice lady guide went back to her real job. She was an

  outstanding individual and went way beyond her job description to help me, and, to my amazement, she did the hike in high heels. I would never have found it without her.
• That should be the end of the story, but it isn’t. I told the lady behind the desk about the letter and I wanted to leave it. She asked, “Who does it go to?” I just about fainted.  She could tell I was hurting because I was leaning on her counter, sweating, shifting back and forth, and breathing hard: I could tell she felt sorry for me. She told me to leave the letter with her and she would make some phone calls to find out where it needed to go and see it got delivered before the next day deadline. I think she thought I was about to collapse and wanted me out of her office before I did.

  It took me 20 minutes, but I managed to navigate my way through the maze back to my car. The two ladies that went out of their way to help me were sweethearts, and also a real credit to the college.

  By the time I made it back to my car I no longer walked like a man of distinction, but

  more like a man of extinction. I collapsed in the front seat and sat there, laughing. I went over the lessons learned. First, things change over time, and 27 years is a long time, don’t assume. Second, I would have never believed that I could have walked that far without an aid, now I know I can.

  My father’s words from when I was ten years old came back to me. “Pain builds

  character Johnny, so when you encounter it, embrace it.” I want you to know that I

  really gained a lot of character that day. Don’t you just love it……..

We all get older, that’s just the fact. Of course, when I was 10 years old, I couldn’t wait until I was 11, then 12, then 13, and that great expectation continued until somewhere in my 20s, I think.

Then the excitement of becoming a “grown up” faded. I was one. Birthdays were not all that important to me; they came and were enjoyed but held no particular significance.

I just had my 82^nd birthday and realize, now that I have reached middle-age, why we celebrate them. I’m now looking forward to my 83^rd, my 84^th, and all the rest just like I used to look forward to my 11^th, and 12^th.

My dear friend and significant companion, Karin, decided I should celebrate my 82^nd birthday on a boat in Newport Harbor, where my boating life started. So she arranged it. I think she must wear Nikes, because whatever it is, she “just does it”.

She rented a “Duffy” boat for us to go out for an afternoon, and tour Newport Harbor. She also brought aboard a great lunch for us to enjoy. There were six other people aboard this boat that holds eight people, and two of them had birthdays within a few days of mine.

You’re probably wondering now what a “Duffy” boat is. Well, it’s an electric boat. Most big harbors have them for rent because they are fun boats to run around the harbor and party on.

Two of the other six people were my very good friends Cliff and Kathy who I’ve known since junior high school. The other four were people in our writing club at Laguna Woods. Richard is the president of the writing club and it was also for his birthday. His wife Sue brought some delicious carrot cake cupcakes. We didn’t get to put candles on them because the wind was too strong, but they were scrumptious anyway. The other couple were Satish and Rohini. Satish’s birthday was also within a few days of mine.

It was the day of my birthday, so I got to be the helmsman and sat at the wheel. I had not been at the helm of a boat since I sold my last one, three years ago. I loved being at the wheel again.

I maneuvered us around the harbor to where I had lived on my various different boats. Four different boats, one of them, a 40 foot sailboat, I lived on for one year, the second one, a 27 foot power boat for two years, the third, a 32 foot power boat for two years, and the last one, a 60 foot power boat, for three years. I lived in a different part of the harbor with each boat. We visited all four locations, we even went by where John Wayne used to live. I was reliving the old days and was one happy boater again.

Karin suggested we might just make this boat ride a birthday tradition. I am already anxiously looking forward to my 83^rd birthday when I get to take the wheel again and run a boat. I just love being the Captain.