Out of the blue,,,,,,

[contender]

Today,, out of the blue,, a strange truck turned into my driveway. I was on the phone with a customer, and wondered "Who the heck?"
As I was wrapping up my call,, he went to the one door we never use,,, so I knew he was sorta lost.
Tucking my 45 in my belt, I went out my main door, and around the house to greet this older guy. In his truck, was an older woman,,, whom I didn't recognize either.
I called out to him, and as he came around the house,,, he said he was looking for Tyrone. I said he'd found him, and he replied on how much I had changed, and he knew he hadn't changed. I said "BS,,, because I don't recognize you!"

Turns out,,, it was a guy who I had not only taught to SCUBA dive back in 1986,, but had also worked for for several months, AND taken many scuba trips with. All until his company finished the job they were on & he moved to another job elsewhere. We lost touch after that. I had not seen this guy in about 29 years!
It was GREAT!!!!!!! He & I always enjoyed trips & socializing together. AND,, all those years ago,, we reloaded some ammo for his 444 Marlin. So, we caught up on each other's lives, and discussed old friends. Then he asked me; "Do you remember loading that ammo for my old 444???" I did. He said he'd love to find the old loading recipe, as he always felt it was the best load & he lost the papers on it.
I said I could find it in my old reloading logs.

So, out of the blue, an old friend appeared,, and we have been able to reconnect. Sometimes,,, life just smiles at you!

 

[coach]

Ups and downs as you said.

 

[JFB]

that story made ME feel good just reading it. I bet you felt GREAT reminising!

 

[Valmet]

Aalways good to reconnect with old friends...

 

[bogus bill]

Years ago my captain at work who also was a good friend got a call that his married son was in bad shape from a boating accident and might not make it. Frank and his sons mother had a bad divorce maybe 20 years prior and hadn't seen the newly married son in many years. He flew to Texas and went to the hospital. A young lady and a older woman was in front of his son`s room sort of comforting each other. Frank assumed the young lady was his daughter in law, hugged her and said everything would be fine. Then he turned to the other older lady and stuck out his hand and said, "I am Frank, Jim's father. Frank assumed the woman might be his sons mother in law.
The woman said "Frank, I know who the hell you are. I used to be married to ya!"

 

[akbluz]

Good story - and also shows the value of retaining your reloading data.

 

[graygun]

Good thing you didn't shoot him.

 

[GP100]

Good thing you didn't shoot him.

Yeah.. That would suck big time.. I try to never shoot friends.. Unless they owe me money of course.. Then I tend to shoot off a toe here and there.. But as a general rule, I try to avoid it.. It's just bad for public relations.. :mrgreen:

 

[blume357]

I always go to the front door or what looks like the main door of a house when I first come to a customers.... often it is obvious when out in the country that folks don't use that door... but this lets the folks that are home know that a 'stranger' has shown up. Maybe it's just me, but I've had folks come out with a gun or had a gun on when I show up and it has never bothered me or did I once ever thought I was in danger of being shot.

 

[Fox Mike]

Strange how things like that happen. Last summer I had a knock on my front door and when I answered it there stood a gentleman that looked a wee bit disheveled to say the least. Before I could say anything he said "Hey Frank, How ya doin'?" I answered him "I'm doing fine, but who the hell am I talking to?" He said "Paul (i won't mention his last name)". This guy and I had worked together 20 + years ago. He had gained a ton of weight and I just hadn't recognized him. We sat on the front porch and shot the breeze for hours.

 

[graygun]

Just funnin': I don't think Ty would blast someone w/o cause. :lol:

 

[vito]

Reconnecting with old friends is nice, most of the time. I left my home town at 22 when I went into the Army, and never moved back. I lost touch with most of my friends pretty quickly, having a new wife, a new job and essentially a new life thousands of miles from where I grew up. In recent years I have reconnected with several, in part through Facebook. Some of the guys I have not seen or spoken with in about 50 years, and while it is nice to do this, sometimes after we exchange an update on our lives there is nothing left to connect with. Our lives have moved so far apart that we no longer have much in common besides our teenage years. And since I grew up in New York City, and most of the old crowd never left that area, I find some are actually appalled at me for openly supporting the 2nd Amendment, being an NRA member, etc. and I refuse to act like I am an East Coast liberal just to get along.

But about a year ago an old friend from my really early life found me and called me up. We had not seen each other in about 60 years. When we were kids we were so close that this friend used to call my Mom "mom" as well and spent as much time in my house as he did in his own house. But after catching up an his letting me know what had happened to some mutual friends he asked if we could actually get together. I was all for it and was planning on making this part of a trip to NY to see my elderly Mom. Than he called and told me that he and his new wife were hoping to adopt a child from overseas and that the cost was enormous, so he was asking all of his "friends" to help out. After 60 years of no contact, he is asking me for money on the third phone call. When I told him I was retired (as he is as well) and that I could not afford to do much for him, he hung up on me and has ceased all contact. I guess I am glad I saw his true colors so quickly and before I gave him a cent, but it was still disappointing. I had really hoped to renew our boyhood friendship, and now I know it was all a ploy to ask for money. The worst part is I have now heard from a mutual friend that there is no adoption in process, and that he has lived his entire adult life as a con man and has been in jail several times. You just never know.

 

[contender]

As I said, it made me feel good to re-connect with my old friend. And no, he was never in danger of being shot, as he never showed any sign of being a threat, AND he knew me well enough to expect me to have a gun handy.
Well, last night, I dug out my old records, got his data, and called him a little while ago. He was a bit surprised at the bullet weight, as his "memory" was off a bit on that. We discussed that info, and my notes on how we'd tested different stuff,,,and my details on the bullet weight & all. He complimented me on my detailed notes.

I know that as life happens,, folks change & go different directions. Very close friends grow up, have life happen, and become different people. Sometimes it's good, sometimes, not so much. But,,, TRUE friends always know where they stand with you, and you with them. Maybe different paths of life, but good friends, never forget the good.

And while we may not live close enough to be as social as we once were,, he now knows he's still welcome here.
At least this time, the past has been resurrected for good reasons.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

that story made ME feel good just reading it. I bet you felt GREAT reminising!

Same here. Good for you Ty.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

that story made ME feel good just reading it. I bet you felt GREAT reminising!

Same here. Good for you Ty.

...but after 29 years neither one recognized the other. Do we change that much, that fast????

 

[Wyandot Jim]

that story made ME feel good just reading it. I bet you felt GREAT reminising!

Same here. Good for you Ty.

...but after 29 years neither one recognized the other. Do we change that much, that fast????

Nope not me. I still look like that thin handsome devil I was at 21.
Well maybe on the inside only.

 

[bogus bill]

You cant go back.

 

[graygun]

Friendship is one of the few things that can't be bought.

 

[Conservative]

Excellent, heart warming story contender.

After 30 years of being divorced to my first wife, she called to tell me her brother died.

She smokes 'cools' so I didn't recognize her voiced, she sounded like an old bar fly.

 

[Bob Wright]

Thanks for the uplift today!


Bob Wrighgt

 

[bogus bill]

Years ago I had a very close boyhood friend, "Larry". He came from a huge family of I think 7 brothers, one sister and no dad. The mother did what she "thought" she had to, to survive. When I knew Larry about the oldest four boys were already out on their own but Larry, two other brothers and "Ella Mae" were home. It was like a pack of wild Indians and every day was a major drama with one or more of the boys. The mother was in fact, once a good looking Indian and wild. Ella Mae was a double for Elly Mae on the Beverly Hill Billy`s. She was the only kid of the batch that later done well, a lawyer. The boys washed windows, done whatever to help out and maybe some poaching and picking up road kill`s. We were very close. I left home and didn't see Larry for about fifteen or twenty years. I think we did send Christmas cards. I was a bachelor and worked graveyard. One morning I went home from work and a old dilapidated car with Wisconsin license plates (my boyhood state, and this was California) was in my driveway. I go in the house and Larry and wife are cooking breakfast and had I think, four kids lounging around. He had carded his way in. I have at least a hundred Larry story's. He`s dead now.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Sounds like a great visit between you two!

 

[Kevin]

Sorry I missed this thread... And yes Contender, it’s great to see old friends. I’m glad your friend looked you up.

In the other thread I wrote I mentioned I saw an old friend I worked with for about 3 or 4 years or so. Then I move to Seattle and so on. It was 18 years since I’ve seen him. We were all friends, my wife his wife and some other people in the group.

He definitely looked different, I would not have recognized him except for his voice. For some reason I’m particularly good at remembering and recognizing voices.

He is turning 50 soon and going through a mild mid life crisis; wondering if he’s made a difference in this world. He’s very successful at his job. But otherwise, if he’s done good deeds. I think he has, and tried to convince him of this, maybe he will believe it... I hope so. He was definitely a good guy.

And like I mentioned, one of the main people who influenced me to start shooting. I opened up my gun safe and he was pretty impressed. It’s funny, I still have a couple guns from back then and he remembered them.

 

[wolfsong]

All the more reason to stay connected to those friends we currently have in our lives. Many are just down the road or across town or one county over, yet our paths cross too infrequently. As we age, the opportunities to reconnect diminish with time. Stay in touch.

 

[wolfsong]

I always go to the front door or what looks like the main door of a house when I first come to a customers.... often it is obvious when out in the country that folks don't use that door... but this lets the folks that are home know that a 'stranger' has shown up. Maybe it's just me, but I've had folks come out with a gun or had a gun on when I show up and it has never bothered me or did I once ever thought I was in danger of being shot.

SOP, living in the country. Friends all know where to park and which door to use. "Strangers" don't. They are met with the appropriate degree of caution and suspicion (well covered, of course).