To Old Friends

Well Tonight is going to be a sunshine moment. Brian and I are going to dinner with some of my oldest friends. Eckerd Friends. I wish I could have them all together. Over the years there have been store friends and corporate friends. Lunch Bunch friends. Most of my Eckerd friends I have had for more than 20 years.

Like my job at Eckerd's my friends from then are all still attached to me. There are the ones that were from the store and still work for CVS in the stores like Lisa, Lill and of course Tracy. There are friends that moved from the stores to corporate like Andy, Cindy, Jana, Kim, Linda, Mo, Scotty, Shelly and me. Friends that moved on to better things like Erik, Keith and Brian and when I say better I don't me the big W. There are those that moved away like Alane, Steve, Mary, Scott and Margie. There is even a Dr. amongst us Kim B. I can not forget Joy who wins most likely to quit a job and surprise the crap out of all of us. If you don't know how Joy quit ask Brian he was there that morning when Bob Sanders learned who not to mess with.

There are old times with Frank and Cindy the night Steve's baby was delivered and Keith, Kim, and I were all at the hospital. I have attended so many weddings for these people listed. Most have been to our house and we have caught up on what is going on in our lives now but we always talk about the funny times we had at Eckerd. The night I stayed for floor cleaning with Scott and Margie and the floor cleaners truck was parked out front and a drunk driver hit his truck over the park bench up on the curb and through the window of the convenience store next door. It was the loudest bang and quick hide the beer under the desk. The floor cleaner walked outside saw his truck have way to the produce and walked back in Eckerd and finished cleaning the store. Not much else he could do. Scott drove him home but could not strap the floor cleaning machine to the back of the Fiero so it was left until the next day.

Oh yeah. Steve super gluing his eye closed. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to touch your eyes when handling super glue.

The night the bales out back were caught on fire and poor Linda was re baling what was left to clean up the mess and she looked like she had just followed Santa down the dirtiest chimney ever.

Mo moved away with Jason and came back after the demise of Brooks. Jason moved on to Rite Aid  with some of the Eckerd Corporate folks. Then Mo came home and went back to the store but all Tammy had was midnights. So  I got him to work with me again. I am sure I told him it was terrible but I doubt he had any idea what he was getting into. But again new friends have been made and here we are. We had our funny moments at both jobs. Watching video of stupid people doing retarded things in front of the camera.

The night before Fred Forester retired Lisa and I were hanging balloons in the pharmacy and putting up streamers and I fell and broke my arm. Only I would sit on the floor and laugh and cry at the same time. I had been making fun of Lisa for being a wimp and wearing a wrist brace and here I slipped when stepping on a stool and fell. I did suck it up until the next day before I had it x-ray ed and found out it was broke.

Fred Forester was the first to expose me and Keith to talk radio. Bob Lassiter. I could listen all afternoon. Look him up online if you never heard him while he was alive. He has a great Christmas story that will make you cry for sure. Keith and I would sneak back just to listen for a few minutes at a time.

Keith. Do I need to say anymore. He and I made straightening a store into a competition. We would hide things in the others section to see how long it would take until they found it. We would set a time and say we will be done by 10 and then goof off the rest of the night together.  Pay each other astronomical amounts of money to work when the other wanted off. Him and Steve pulled the ladder away while I was up on top of the office where we stored the paper products. Steve used to jump from the top of one bin to the other. They were only about 20 feet off the ground. But we were teenagers. Invincible.

Everyone knew Andy and if you knew Andy you knew Comfy. The perfect name for her. When I was at store 7 with Andy it was like having your mom and dad watching over you. Comfy would bring food and if Andy didn't eat it she would call me and tell me to. The kids that worked there Shelly, Kevin and Rose was not a kid but she was always there. I see Shelly every once in a while. Ironically she is linked to Tracy through her dear friend Susan's son Brandon who ironically I babysat him when he was a kid and now they to have kids of their own.  If we weren't picking one up to make sure they showed up for work we were buying lunch or a soda to get them to work. I always found that to be a great way to get them to work.

Tracy turned 30 and I teased her like she was turning a 100. We have had 20 years of birthdays since then and each one she gets better with. For her 50th I had her flocked with pink flamingos. We had our picture taken with them. I remember when Amanda was born and this summer I was at the hospital after Amanda had her son Quinn. This is a multi-generational friendship. I took pictures for her son and niece's weddings. And her niece has a daughter that shares my birthday.

So tonight to Friends!