Audio (MP3): 20170706 - Smelling like coffee and Captain Morgan
One time I was driving to work on a hot summer morning. Just like today. Hung over pretty bad and nursing a pint of rum. I was in complete agony, had a fiery headache, and starting to sweat because my truck didn’t have air conditioning. Taking shots now and then while auto-piloting the blue Ranger along the river. I needed just enough liquor to bring my headache down to a manageable level so I could make it through until lunch.
So then I saw a police car up ahead, speed-trapping the morning commuters. I got pretty scared. The last thing I wanted was to be pulled over and arrested on the way to work. When smelling like coffee and Captain Morgan.
The thought of having to make that phone call from jail. At that hour. And all that would come from it… It just about broke my soul.
I’d been to jail in broad daylight when I was a teenager. But being a grownup with a mortgage. Can you imagine the horror?
…
Anyways, I didn’t get pulled over that morning, was let off the hook. And not because I deserved to be. And I count my lucky stars on hot summer mornings, just like today, when I see a police car…that that’s not me anymore.
“Not doing anything wrong” is a glorious place to be.
jimi hindrance experience · Jul 6, 2017 at 9:32 am
You’re preaching to the choir.
tcr! · Jul 6, 2017 at 9:43 am
Yep 😊
jimi hindrance experience · Jul 6, 2017 at 9:44 am
Listen:
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
jimi hindrance experience · Jul 6, 2017 at 9:47 am
There’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.”
This quote and the preceeding one are by Mr. Vonnegut.
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Momma J · Jul 6, 2017 at 11:29 am
I just thank God you’re alive after that horrific car accident in Ottumwa
tcr! · Jul 6, 2017 at 1:50 pm
That’s a whole other story… ;)
tam.the.terrible · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:37 pm
One I’d like to hear…
Momma J · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:46 pm
He’s very lucky to have survived it
tam.the.terrible · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:47 pm
<3
tcr! · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:51 pm
This story begins with a Jim Beam, a Coke chaser, and a drum machine. Imagine if you will…a Jamaican, new wave dance-off in the heart of Ottumwa, Iowa. A crowd of maybe 10 and I, your host, fresh from a reggae retreat on the humid beaches of Costa Rica…
Momma J · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:53 pm
That’s not quite the way I remember it
tcr! · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:55 pm
No, it wasn’t a Jim Beam. If memory serves (and it usually does) that night was the only time I willingly drank Jack Daniels. Of course, I was in pursuit of a lass and unintimidated by the Wapello dragons not uncommon to that region during those cold, wintery months.
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DeeDee · Jul 6, 2017 at 1:14 pm
Amen!!
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N.Norton · Jul 6, 2017 at 3:52 pm
God’s grace
tcr! · Jul 6, 2017 at 4:56 pm
Yep!
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annekothe · Jul 6, 2017 at 5:05 pm
There by the Grace of God
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Dan G · Jul 7, 2017 at 12:59 pm
Looking at your photos I realize that you are a wealthy man and it could all be taken away with one drink. Congratulations on a new and better life. (The easier softer way. )
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Engelhardt · Jul 7, 2017 at 6:09 pm
Love this story. Love you my friend. Big hug!
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