I'd like to take a moment to brag about my best friend
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Warning: This is long, personal, not the least bit automotive related, and I didn't even put a cat picture in it to lure you in.
I am lucky enough to have two guys I grew up with, who I both call my best friend. The three of us would do anything for each other. We all reside in different states now, so seeing either one of them doesn't happen often. I think the last time we were all three together was at my wedding over a decade ago. I feel like there was one time since, but I can't remember for sure. Doesn't matter, if any of us needs help, we're on the first thing smoking.
Anyways, one of these guys, who I will call Bob ... because that's his name ... became a stoner fuck-up in high school. We never stopped being friends, I just didn't hang out with him much for a couple years. I wasn't into that stuff.
Bob never met his dad (he died before Bob was born), and his mom just couldn't control him to the best of her efforts. I was worried about him. My dad was worried about him too, and worried that I was going to get into what Bob was into. Bob barely graduated high school.
Shortly after graduating, Bob's cousin OD'd and nearly died. Bob took a look around at the crowd he was hanging with, at some of the ... less successful members of his extended family, and decided he wasn't going down that way.
He cleaned up, went to community college, and pulled straight A's. Then he transferred to a university, got an ROTC scholarship, finished his degree, and was commissioned as an officer in US Army, where he joined the medical core. I'm not going to lie, I cried like a baby at his commissioning ceremony. My eyes are a bit moist writing this now.
Cut to seventeen years later, and he's still in the Army. My best friend, who is dyslexic and always struggled in school, whom we used to call Drunk Bob No Pants, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Service Core, has a Master's degree from Baylor that the Army paid for, and is 34 months away from retiring. He's happily married, has three great kids, has a house, all that good stuff too.
I often think back to that conversation I had almost 25 years ago with my dad, about how worried we were about him. My dad asked me if I thought there was anything I could do to help Bob, and I said, "I don't think so. All I can do is hope he comes out the other side, and be there and be his friend if he does." My dad agreed that this was really all I could do, so we both crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
Man is is great to see how far Bob has gone. He had people that helped, people who cared, but he did it. He gathered himself up, and crushed it. I am so fucking proud of Bob.
In my line of work, I've met many kids who were like Bob at his lowest. Troubled, not doing well, but clearly good and intelligent people. It's because of Bob, I know those kids can do it too, if they chose to do it. There isn't much I can do, except be there for them if they chose the light. It gives me hope and peace to know there is always a path.
Some will chose the light, and some won't. If I can guide a few here and there to the light, then all the bullshit I put up with in this line of work is worth it.
I will leave you with this. If you've chosen to read this far, maybe you have somebody in your life who reminds you of the way Bob was. Just be there for them. I hope they chose the light. If they do, you can help pull them in farther.
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@shop-teacher Thank you for a nice story. I like these type of posts. No need for a cat tax.
...meh...
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@vincentmalamute You're welcome. And thank you
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@shop-teacher Yep. Reaching out to offer a hand up really does make a difference for people with nothing left to live for in their own mind...
Good on you for being an exemplary human, and continuing to invest in the youth of today who will be future leaders in America. And kudos to Bob for getting his priorities in line.
I'm not gonna lie, a cat picture would have been cool, too. LOL...
In the meantime, point and laugh at my DoodCat chewing on his foot...
'21 K1600GTL
'18 Jekyll AL3
'16 F-150 Lariat
'00 VFR800
'96 R400 -
That was wonderful, and full of truth.
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@doodon2whls said in I'd like to take a moment to brag about my best friend:
In the meantime, point and laugh at my DoodCat chewing on his foot...
You're a terrible person for dunking his foot in tuna.
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@shop-teacher I have a friend like that, he has really bad ADHD from FAS, for real, his mom drank when he was in the womb. He was always a bit slow but managed to slog through high school with okay grades. Then he turned to working in kitchens at low end restaurants and smoking weed. That lasted for 10 years until he woke up one day and decided to become a nurse. Now he's a nurse, has a kid and is happily married for 15 years.
And you may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
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@shop-teacher This was lovely to read. Like you, I have a best pal named Bob. Unlike you, I intervene whenever he does something stupid. My favorite example is when he went all ga ga for a girl I did not like (and knew was a bad person).
I nonstop railed on the two of them, and while I'm a relatively nice person, I pulled out all the dick stops to make him dating her unbearable. He started turning into a totally different person (something my current roommate is doing now, but I don't have as strong of a relationship with his where I can blast the hell out of his taste in women), he never made time for the boys and whenever he did, all he talked about was how miserable he was without her. It irked all the guys, I just said it flat out... all the time.
Then there's the story of when I walked in on them taking each other's virginity... that's a long story and it really makes me look like a dick. But he broke up with that girl and has since found much nicer people to date. Also stayed my best pal for some reason, which serves as a testament to how inseparable we are even when we're a thousand miles away...
Sorry for ruining your nice post with my mean one, what I'm trying to say is thank you for being a better person than I am haha!
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@shop-teacher Good for Bob, and good for you for sticking with him!
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@shop-teacher Cheers for being there for him and kudos to him for the hard work...it's not an easy situation to pull yourself out of and I wish more people IN that situation could manage to follow in Bob's footsteps....
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@highlander That's awesome!
I had a family friend who suffered from FAS. I haven't heard from her in years, but last I heard, it wasn't going so well.
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That is a great story, thank you for sharing. I have a couple friends who started out with everything going for them, who refused to make the right choices despite all the influence of their friends. Both cases are sad for very different reasons. It's nice to hear a story like yours.
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@functionoverfashion I definitely had people in my life like that too.
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@shop-teacher It's always great to hear stories of people turning it around and being successful in life. Even if we haven't gone off the tracks, it gives us all hope that we can do okay out of life. Good on Bob.
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