Bad Girls, bad boys Whatcha gonna do? Don't matter the Grim Reaper's coming for you!!!!

This past week the best son ever to roam this green earth stopped everything and took his parents to their old stomping grounds in Burlington Massachusetts for my mother's 60th high school reunion. In case you had any doubt that guy is ME!!! Honestly, I give all the credit to my support team, which consists of my wife, son and especially my sister, who puts up with way more shit than any person should have to. Oh yeah, Dre was there occasionally but was smart enough to miss most of the exciting parts which was the flights to and fro!!! Love you Dre girl!!!! Miss you already!!!!

During this trip I got to see a different view of how people perceive things which always amazes me and I want that to be the main topic of this blog. 

On the last day of the trip there was a huge family get together, mostly apprised of people from my dad side of the family. There were a shit ton of people at this shindig, some I haven't seen for years!!! My father is one of only 2 of his 6 siblings that are still here with us on this big blue marble and I think that was a big draw for his side of the family. Knowing that he rarely comes back up north and not trying to be morbid, but at 86 will more than likely not returning ever again. So kind of like seeing The Rolling Stones on tour one last time without the fame and fortune. His older sister was there 89 and his older brothers wife and younger sisters husband. Along with a gaggle of aunts, uncles cousins, 2 cousins and probably even 3rd cousins I Don't fucking know.

My father also had one of his life long friends come to the get together and this is the part I will say was most interesting. Tommy Clemmons, not sure on spelling, basically grew up with my father's family. When my dad got new shoes Tommy got new shoes. So to keep this brief, these fucks have known each other all their lives and shared a lot of crazy times. I'm going to peel back the curtain and let you know my father has actually always went by Jake to his friends and family. And back in the day his brothers, and sister were known to be bad asses. Jake oldest brother (Joshua) was a marine and later in life a town cop. His other brother (Walter) was a lumberjack by trade and his sister (Mary) was a professional softball player who played for team USA many moons ago. What I gather from most of my Dad's stories is besides drinking large amounts of beer and liquor, they also liked to fight. And they were really good at both!!!  A couple of stories I have heard over time are, the time that Walter got angry at the bar and picked up a regulation size pool table and threw it out the bar window. Or, when Josh and Walter got into a fight at Josh's house the police called my father and begged him to go break it up. The police were not interested in intervening. In fact, if all the brothers were in the same bar and an altercation ensued the police would wait outside and politely ask if one of the three would come out and speak to them. Growing up and all my life this is how I've viewed my dad.

Although I know years have gone by and understand my father is now a frail old man, I still view him as the bad ass he once was a long time ago. Tommy on the other hand has a different viewpoint. After their hours of reminiscing last Sunday and the goodbyes began to happen, Tommy welled up with tears and started to cry uncontrollably. My sister, son and I assisted him to his vehicle and figured he was just upset because this may be the last time they see each other. On the contrary, he was more upset that his friend is mostly wheel chair bound and not quite the man Tommy remembered. In his eyes his friend was all but gone. We tried to explain to him that our father, despite his physical ailments still had most of his faculties on most occasions, but that did little to help Tommy. His response was that he could not live that way and would never live that way. Definitely a different perspective.

I don't know if my story actually has a point after all this. Besides the usual bad typing and bad use of punctuation. It's just what flowed out of my mind and into my pecking finger tips. I guess I'll close with this. Obviously none of us are going to beat the man/women wielding a scythe when he/she comes for us. We can only choose how we live and how we see the people and things around us. We can choose to see the good parts or best parts we remember about them, or we can dwell on the the present and the way they've changed over the years and whats is left of them. 

That's all left up to us!!!

"The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind" William Wordsworth


Peace Out!!! Much Love!!! 



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