Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Captain Carpetbagger


Tonight at work I was training a guy who just moved to Louisville from Philadelphia. He told me that this was the first summer he didn't go down the shore to Wild Wood NJ. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he told me his sad tale, I'm just glad that he couldn't see mine. Never take the smell of the ocean for granted people!

As I was training him I decided not to tell him about the time that I called out sick because I was at an Elk convention in Wild Wood, NJ on my 3rd day of a new job. In that particular moment I used my better judgment, but I did wrestle around with the idea for about 15 minutes in my head, "Should I tell him or shouldn't I tell him"?

It's always a pleasant treat to meet someone else from the hood, ( Livingston and Philly might as well be around the corner from each other out here). This guy seemed pretty excited to be here and just to be alive for that matter. I can kind of understand where he's coming from. He didn't really have any prospects in Philly. Heck, he didn't even have his GED up until about two weeks ago and he happens to be married with three kids. Could you imagine living in Philly married with three kids and never having had a job that pays over 10 bucks an hour? That would suck ass. This kid is desperately hungry for a better life. He is currently working three jobs. Now he has an opportunity to turn his whole life around. It's really a heart warming story in the making. I wonder if we can get Mark Wahlberg to play this part too.

My move from DC to Louisville is really quite similar to the story of the kid from Philly that I just told you about. I was working in DC painting houses and I started to think about the custom chrome designs I was going to put on the Harley Davidson that I was fantasizing about buying, that's when the alarm went off, I needed a break from the blue collar life style that I had become so comfortable with. (Insert four years of history with a girl from Kentucky who was living in DC here) and off to Louisville I went. Two days after I got here, I was hired by the company I work for now. Three years after that I was married to Allyson, so obviously (voice of the birdman) there was a real reason for me coming here and if you don't buy into all that soul mate shit, I'm just a very lucky guy.

1 comment:

Ms. Tuesday said...

so in other words... it was SORTA about a girl... =)

looking for a less complicated life... followed a girl back to her roots...

I respect that. Whatta man.