GO TO YOUR HAPPY PLACE

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Sometimes bad things just seems to line up in place and wait for the one catalyst to come along to set things in motion. These "Bad Things" have a mind of their own, and at times, a unique dry sense of humor - Why not give the poor bum a break so he thinks he's outta the woods, then lower the boom (ed. - Mic Boom, so-to-speak).

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I speak from first hand experience

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For example, I'd just finished my last posting in awhile on July 16th, with plans to write another one in about two weeks.....just when my wife's great aunt died. For me, not a real tragedy (I barely knew her - Hell, I don't even know my own, as our family is splintered throughout the country), but on the XYL's side of the family it's much, much different. Think of the movie "Bio Dome", where a group a people are locked into a sealed environment. Now expand that group to a whole family....from the great-great-uncle/aunts/grandparents all the way to the current generation (like my wife).

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As in a Bio-Dome, they are restricted in distance between each other, and in my wife's family, many generations live within about a 1.5 mile circle (most closer - 1/2 mile), so when a death happens, it's a really BIG deal.

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Moving down the chain, the recently deceased great-aunt's sister (my wife's grandmother, who Michele takes care of better than any nurse or other human would do) falls to the floor and injures her back, is taken to ER, released, and even now (2 weeks later) doesn't want to leave bed because it's too painful. With my back issues of the last few days, I can't blame her.

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On my end of things, I take 3 days off to provide a shoulder to lean on, and it puts me 3 days behind at work, where I report to the director in my building as well as a supervisor in a building 13 miles away. Each of them have lists and projects for me to do, but I'm not complaining - the "shoulder" and my wife come first. One project is due by August 24th - a "Safety related video". Sounds easy (if I could clone myself) but with all that is going on, really makes timeliness tight. Ebay auctions that WEREN'T paypal stack up: Where are the Money Orders? Where's the Checks? Most importantly, "Where's the envelope that should have been mailed out??" Last, but not least, this past Thursday my back goes out. That damned slippery disc which hasn't created havoc for quite some time, slips all the way out (hard to walk, stand, lay in bed, etc)....which brings us to the "Happy Place".

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THE "HAPPY PLACE"

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Everyone needs a happy place to go to, and usually it's a memory...a period of time where nothing could have been better. Because we all grew up differently, but mine as you would expect revolves around two-way radio, and at that time period CB RADIO. I've managed to purchase the same type radios I owned back in the '69-'74 period (my golden age) and it's amazing the therapeutic results I get from the radios, magazines, and catalogs of that time. Sure, other folks who don't share your happy place will ask (like someone at work did last week) "Why do you keep buying this junk???"

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There is no explanation I could give them, there is no $$$ value in much of what I bought, there is only the slip of a smile on my face that appears on my face and slight glint in my eyes as I drop down for a visit to that place where comments, and people that make them, cannot reach. And sometimes, when I think that "Hey, maybe I have gone a bit bonkers" I get e-mail like this:

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Hi Woody,
I was looking at your CB museum and recognized the radio on your desk when you were younger. I grew up in the boom of the CB craze in the 1970's and purchased one of those Navaho Base Stations that you had on your desk in the picture - "young Woody". I also had several walkie talkies during that time period. It would be neat to see all the different walkie talkies they had at the time. I remember lafayette, cobra, realistic, president, SBE, and a lot more. Thanks for organizing all the CB's into a neat site.
Shawn

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And then I realize, there are others that long for their own "Golden Age"....My Blog, and Website isn't just for me, it's for you.....Enjoy!!

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'Nuff Said

Woody

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