Just dropping by

[robivi3]

The one year mark has passed since discharge, it passed last week. I can see this issue fading by the day. It was a horrendous time. I guess that jobwise I have been quadrupely blessed in life.

No one here in So. Florida does this at all. Just dropping by to say "hey", so hey. I miss Tennessee. I was actually asked by a neighbor the last time I was at my Aunt and Uncles farm "are you kin to Dee?". I said "yes I am" and he replied "well tell him Todd said hey". Down here they would have called the cops first.

My Uncle Kenneth lives on the same road, he does not lock his door still. We went to his house, saw the door open and only the screen blocking the entry and the neighbors yelled out that he was at the flea market.

I really miss Tennessee and rural Mississippi

As an Ex-Online Merchant, yes a real one with CC processing, an 800 number and stock (in those days). I'm gonna post some good sites that i've found. We do the majority of our shoes and clothing online and have even saved on some furniture. Why buy Wal-mart quality when you can get Kenneth Cole and Florshiem for a little more? For now, I gotta go... Talk to ya'll later...

[HRx]

Happy anniversary! & Welcome back!

[laz]

happy anniversary!

[Minnymouth]

:p Robivi3,
Congradulations on your Anniversary!!!!
I know its been a hard year to get thru and now instead of the the light at the end of the tunnel - YOU get to look at FULL SUNSHINE!!!!!!
So happy for ya!!
Also want to say "THANKS" for all your moral support and advice for the last 9 months you have given me. Sure helped me keep my head on straight some days.
You were talking about Tenn, well old Ky is a lot like Tenn. Neighbors here still leave their doors unlocked, people sit on the front porch and wave as others go by, others out walkings or jogging stop by and "rest a spell" on the front porch. We all know our neighbors we just don't meddle, lol. Something that doesn't happen in the big city.
If my car is in the driveway after 8 oclock in the morning, somebody calls to see if I'm OK....cause I'm supposed to be at work, lol. Love my neighborhood, peacefull, laid-back bunch of caring folks. Life like its meant to be and should be..... neighbor helping neighbor.
Our subdivision has an "annual cookout" every year - have had for 8 years now. 24 homes participate each year....adults, kids all gather, have games, hayrides, etc.
People move in and move out of the neighborhood (but not very often). A neighbor's "tragedy" touches us all.
It's peacefull everyday living that helps make life's problems easier to endure.
I love coming home in the evenings, look forward to sitting on the porch, and being a part of my community.
I loved south Ga, and Florida, but your right - THEY don't have the "welcome home of the mountains"......
Have a good day Folks,
Minny

[robivi3]

My wife is from Barranquilla Colombia. She regards herself as what's called a "Barranquillera", she's extremely old fashioned. The City is named for the old days when folks would meet at the numerous benches to talk (barranqa/long bench). It is a coastal City but has some mountains. The City has a friendly reputation unlike the other major Cities. Most of the people I know from there are middle class and friendly and my wife considers Tennessee the closest thing to what home is like.

Her cousin works for the Doral in Nashville, has a thick accent, his english is good but not perfect. He came to work for the Doral in Miami (a beautiful and popular place) and left after three months complaing that people here stay in a foul mood. He said that he missed walking past people who say "good morning" even if they don't know you. Nashville is where i was born and lived until age thirteen. It was the freeest, most fun place and I still talk to old friends i haven't seen in thirty five years. It was a wopnderful City to be born in and to have the memmories of the sixties there are priceless. One our homes there was in Percy Warner Valley. You looked up at the mountain and there was Cheekwood, or Maxwell House as it was also called, yes the Coffee folks. Nashville was a big money town and alot famous folks came from there.

My wife and I have stayed together and bridged the gap because our early upbringing was so similar. Both from middle class homes, good cities and real conservative education. Nashville had Oak Hill Day School and BGA and it's great Colleges and medical facilities. My wife went to a private Catholic Girls School in SA and like me she transferred here with her father who worked for IBM. I transferred here with my father who worked for Bell Systems for 40 years. To both she and I this was a massive culture shock. Our schools taught classes in ettiqette. I came to Nautilus JR. High on Miami Beach, saw psycodelic paintings on the wall and the first words i heard walking through the front of the school with my Mom were, and i mean this, was when one girl (in jeans!!) asked another, "did you go to the Grand funk Concert last nite?". I knew i was dead!

The issue is one of work, I have tried to get into my field up there. My field is very specific and even though i could branch out it is unlikely i will make anywhere near the $30.00 pr hr I make here. My benefits account for about 20,000. per year more and i set my own OT at this point in seniority. I will retire at 53 in seven years. That is another story... I am alredy trying to buy land in Cookeville, it is cheap there right now.

My wife loves Tennessee, her engish is perfect and accentless and even though it is obvious that she is from another Country we have been treated with the utmost courtesy and downright decency in the deep South. We got lost on a two lane road in Mississippi, stopped at a Dutch Oven/Truck Stop and the people there wanted to know where we were from and gave the kids candy and soda. I am an old Southern Boy and enjoy my own people, no matter the race.

I can tell you that there are many decent people in Miami though. I went through Andrew and was even in an "Ice insurrection" that put down by the Cops. An Ice truck showed up selling Ice at $5.00 per bag, the Cops tried to chase them away and arrest some of those who paid the $5.00, go figure. I remeber being shirtless, shoeless and running fast with our ice with the Dominican neighbor. I remeber Old "kuko" who owned the Cuban store with fresh Cuban bread on the hour from the iron oven who took checks and had a decent heart. He carried alot of folks 'til payday. My wife and i were struggling in those days with three small boys and our neighborhood then was a mixed bag. So I can't "all bad Miami" and "all good Tennessee". I can tell you that in that mixed bag neighborhood and where I work there are alot of decent Haitians, Latins, Carribeans and American Black folks, if anyone thinks it's all downhill it's not. there is alot of real good heartedness in the big City. In Andrew alot of people helped us, alot people did bad things but alot more were really good. I've seen humble Haitian pastors street preaching in bad areas, I've had people in my home i would have never met otherwise. There will be some tears when i leave here to... and some memmories to write about