One year at Christmas, the family was enjoying some alcoholic beverages and grandpa wasnt allowed to partake due to his diabetes. Mom knew that every once in awhile, on special occasions, I'd sneak him a shot or two. This one particular time, I was on my way to sneak him a 2nd shot and on my way, ran into my cousin LA who was coming back from grandpa with an empty shot glass. We looked at each other, then our grandpa, then our shot glasses and realized this old fart gave the same sob story about wishing for a drink that he had both of us sneaking him shots. Mum wasn't thrilled with any of us.

I was working a summer job at the shipyard in Quincy, and that particular day was hot, especially 4 decks down. My buddy decided to take the day off and go water skiing, and by lunchtime, I regretted not going with him.  About 2pm, he pulled up to the side of the ship, waved a cold beer and said, c'mon. As I approached the rail, this big shop foreman yelled at me, what the hell do you think your doing !  I said, I'm taking the rest of the day off, and jumped into the water.  I'll never forget the look on his face when I jumped.  Little did I know that a short time later I would be attending my Aunt Lorraine's wedding, and there I "officially" met Jim, and it clicked, that unforgettable look on the face of that Foreman.  We had a good laugh about that, and bonded immediately...…..What a small world.