Sharing your story and keeping the critters out of the garage

​        I attended the comedy night at the Brooklyn Opera House on Saturday, Feb. 22.
       It was a fun evening of improv, joke and storytelling that lasted nearly two hours.
       I’m thinking maybe I should have signed up and participated in the event.
      Then I thought that wouldn’t work because there would be nobody to take photos. I am the camera man, as youngster have called me in the past.
      That didn’t keep me from thinking about what my opening dialog would center around. The last time I was on the stage was December 1971 when I played a snowman in the sixth grade Christmas play in elementary school.
      My mom made my snowman outfit from a white bed sheet. There were two us that had snowman roles.     The other snowman had an outfit that had wire hoops to make it look like a real snowman. My outfit was a white bed sheet.
       I think some of the other kids laughed at me, but I didn’t care. It was a fun memory.
      I can’t forget about taking dancing lessons at the Pink Barn in Tulsa (a real pink barn) when I was 16. My mom paid for the lessons to give me a chance to socialize and meet girls. I learned a move or two, but didn’t find a girlfriend.
      As I was taking photos of the different acts, I was thinking about what else I might share if I were on stage. I could share funny experiences about life or talk about seeing the wonderous works of God in my life.
      I remember the time Debbie and I got ready to leave for a playoff basketball game at GMG and our garage door broke. We had to leave it open all night since it wouldn’t shut.
     My brother-in-law stopped by the next day and bolted a steel support bar across the middle of door that allowed the garage door to work again.
     We used it that way for 10 years before finally getting new garage doors and a garage door opener three plus years ago.
      And then there was time a racoon got in our garage.
      Debbie said we used a live trap to catch it and the family released in the woods the next day.
      When you live in the country, it’s best to leave the garage door shut. There are all kinds of critters out and about and at any time, one might find solace in the garage.
      I would hate to find a skunk in there.
     And then there was time our kitty brought a baby rabbit, a snake and a frog into our house. Not all at the same time.
     I could talk about almost running out of gas the time that Debbie and I were taking a mini vacation to Hannibal, Mo.
      We were rolling down Highway 61 late at night and I noticed we were about out of gas. The little yellow     “your almost out of gas” figure hadn’t yet come on the dash, but it had to be close. Thankfully, I found a gas station that was still open and was able to top off our tank.
      Debbie has never let me forget that one and often reminds me or asks if we have gas before leaving on a trip or going to Des Moines.
     And then there was time that I ran out of gas in my old 1959 Impala while out job hunting. Seems like it was around 1979. I had $3 in my pocket and a gas can in the trunk. $3 would buy a lot of gas at 25 cents a gallon in 1979. I waked about a half mile to a gas station and it was enough to get me home.
      In November 1981, I had quit by night job at a Tulsa grocery and drug store chain. The store took up half a city block and was so big, that it took eight hours to clean it.
      I got tired of working there and quit. It wasn’t one of my brightest moves, especially in the economy of the day.
     I had been looking for a new job for quite some time with no luck when a friend invited me to a youth revival in Tulsa. I was 22 at the time. I wasn’t a youth, but felt I could relate to others in attendance.
      While listening to the message, I decided after the service to ask the minister to pray with me. He was head of the youth division for the Assembly of God churches in America, which is based in Springfield, Mo.
After the service, I went to the front of the church and sat on a pew and waited about 15 or so minutes. Everyone was about cleared out and the minister asked how he could help me.
      I told him my situation and he said let’s pray and ask God to get you a job in three days. This was a new concept to me to pray and ask God to do something like helping me find a job. 
     On the second day of job hunting,  I stopped at a friend’s auto upholstery business near my boyhood home. There was a fellow in there named Bucky who asked my friend if he could leave his car there one more day so he could arrange a ride. He had a nice old Buick and was getting a new convertible top installed.
       I offered to give him a ride and he accepted.
      I followed Bucky home and then gave him a ride back to my friend’s upholstery shop to pick up his other vehicle. We started talking and he asked me what I was doing. I told him I was looking for a job.
      “They’re hiring at my job,” he told me.
     He worked in a small factory in West Tulsa that made sheaves used to move wire cable lines on large cranes.
      To make a long story short, I was interviewed and hired on the third day. It was one of the many miracles    I’ve experienced along life’s way.
      I leave you with this - keep your head up, keep dreaming and keep on walking.
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.