I had the good fortune of hooking up with an old college buddy of mine last night. Jim Lewis, another former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, is on the short list of my favorite people. We were roommates together for way more years than either of us can justify trying to get out of that collegiate penitentiary. Jim had (has) a deep and penetrating love of all things cultural and earthy. My current appreciation of good beer, blue grass music, and Southern hospitality owes much of what it is due to Jim's influence and example. A connoisseur of Negra Modelo, pork products (in large quantities), smoking mandolin playing, and a Calvin commentary or two, Jim and I had very little risk of not hitting it off. Many a what-were-we-thinking adventure was undertaken over those years. (Ask me about all the alligator-fraught canoe-camping trips in the Okefenokee!)
Jim was returning home to North Carolina and his wife Vicki and four beautiful kids after spending weeks and weeks on a business trip in Malaysia. He flew through Los Angeles International (LAX - so named, I'm sure, for its security division) and had a wicked 10+ hour layover. It worked to my advantage, however, because Stacy and the kids were able to drive up to El Segundo and meet me at work, then we all drove to the airport and picked up Jim.
We had a dinner at a local Smell Segundo sports bar and then went to a nearby park so the kids could energy dump while Jim and Stacy and I hung out. L was all blushes and reservation, but N was typically fearless and social."Hi!, Hi!, Hi!, Hi!, Hi!,..."
It was great to see Jim and catch up with things on his side of the continent, and he got to meet our young-uns for the first time. Wish we could have spent some time with his wife Vicki and their troop.
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