My former neighbor, Dan, and his family are still on my mind, which happens to me quite often. Can't shake 'em! They live now in Utah, having taken a transfer there several years ago.
My family moved from the neighborhood in early December of 2000. Shortly after we got settled in, we invited their family to come to The Preserve to have breakfast with us. Dan worked nights so the earlier we got together, the better. As my spouse prepared the food, I got busy setting the table, with Timmy as my assistant. He put packets of fruit snacks at each place, which was not really on the menu.
Once their family arrived, and they were done looking around at our home, we prepared to sit at the table. From the kitchen came the food, and Timmy, carrying a can a beer for Dan. Oh, how we laughed! No one asked for a beer, or even offered a beer, but his little buddy knew that Dan should have one! It got put back in the fridge, "for later".
The summer before we moved, the four adults and a friend of their family, a former foreign exchange student, Phillipe, took dive instruction. The man from whom we took instruction ran the local dive shop, and for the life of us, we could not figure out how he did it! Steve was so incredibly odd, he tried to speak Spanish to Phillipe, who is French. The first night after our class, we five went a few doors down to Sorbello's for a bite, and we laughed until we cried at the absurdity of it all. This was going to be such fun!!
A few weeks into our training, the group went for a test dive, and afterward, the entire families met at Carrabba's to celebrate my spouse's birthday. We invited Steve to join us. For all the rest of our time together, he never stopped wishing him happy birthday, and thanking him for the dinner. To this day, Dan and I wish each other "happy birthday", even when it's not. Lynn is a neo-natal nurse practitioner, but Steve absolutely insisted it was my car he often saw at the hospital. Pretty soon I was convinced!!
Another time we were all going on a dive, our two families in Dan's big conversion van, and Steve in his, by himself. No one wanted to ride with him. By this time in our training we had gone over and over the rules about staying with your buddy, taking a head count when you get back to the boat, etc. many times in class. We got it.
Well, we headed south on Blanding toward the dive site, Steve in the lead van with the equipment. All of a sudden he pulled off into a turning lane (it was quiet this early Saturday morning, thankfully), so we pulled over too. We were not far from The Golden Corral on Blanding. He got out of his van, came back to ours, and proceeded to take a head count of everyone in the van. We had only just left the dive shop and not made any stops, so had not left anyone behind.
It was absolutely incredible, and we laughed all the way to Ginny Springs, and back, and for months afterward. I am throwing my head back in laughter as I recall this now. We were so stunned at this man's ridiculousness, his trying to appear in charge when it was so obvious he was not! And, by the way, I never did take the certification dive test because I did not feel well enough trained by this goofball to risk my life just to prove something. I learned how to do it, and know I can, and will chalk it up as done! And have a long time of laughing and fun to reflect on!!!
