I think it was the fall/winter of 2013 when Michael fell off a ladder outside his house and shattered his wrist. Sally was visiting with me and our father at the time here in Phoenix, AZ and couldn't wait to get back to him and to make sure he was well taken care of until she could get there. It was also the winter when she had surgery, so I had flown out to NY in the first week or so of that December to help her with her hospital stay and recovery at home and help Michael with tasks that his casted wrist would not allow him to do.
One day, Michael had to see the orthopedic surgeon for a check up so I drove him into the office in Albany to see the Dr. I had to drive Sally's little Mazda which was a stick shift and even though I grew up & spent most of my early driving years driving stick shifts, it still had been many years since I had actually had an opportunity to again drive a car with a stick shift!
While it took a few miles, stops and starts with traffic and traffic lights but, like riding a bike, I was able to handle the car and stick shift proficiently.
But this story really begins after the appointment. We had waited such a long time to get in to see the Dr and he wanted X-Rays which also took forever, so by the time we left, it was early evening. When we left the building, we discovered, much to my delight having lived in hot climates for the past many years ( I won't say just how long), but having grown up on Long Island and having loved all four seasons and especially playing in the snow, I loved that it had been and was still snowing when we left the Dr's office!
However, upon getting into the car and exiting the parking garage, we encountered a huge back up of vehicles and very bad road conditions and it was getting very dark!! The snow plows had been trying to keep up with the falling snow, but since we were in downtown Albany, the roads were narrow to begin with and now we only had barely enough room for one car to go in each direction! So it was very slow and we sat for several minutes at many points during the drive. Suffice it to say, we made very little progress on the regular main roads, so Michael, being the resourceful and knowledgeable guy he was, we took a short cut!! That actually worked out to our advantage, but I do remember make turn after turn in residential neighborhoods in total darkness, going up hill and downhill until I was hopelessly lost!!! Thank goodness, Michael was not!! He knew the town and whole area so well, we actually made good time until we were forced to take the freeway to cross the Hudson to Averill Park!!!
Meanwhile, I was changing gears constantly, working that clutch and stick shift like mad but doing unexpectedly well. Then, when we got on the freeway, the ramp we had to take to cross the Hudson was backed up and it was an incline, a pretty steep hill, and the traffic was literally stop, wait, inch forward, stop, wait, inch forward...and so on! Here's where I had to show my true expertise with the clutch and by golly, we actually made it up the hill, over the river and thru the woods!! (So to speak!)
I was exhilarated that I had been able to drive that car all that way throughout that blizzard (yes, it was blizzard conditions all afternoon, into the evening and most of the night), and I drove right through it all!!! We ended up with over 18 inches of snow by morning.
Now, you are probably wondering what this all has to do with Michael. Well, I'll tell you.
Without Michael, I probably would have panicked and gotten stuck or in an accident or both! I probably would have gotten lost, maybe stranded, and it could have been serious. But Michael was there!! He was with me, supporting, encouraging, laughing, patient, joking, teasing, supporting, and so, so patient, encouraging, sometimes disparaging in a sarcastic and funny way, but he was THERE!! And mostly, he was the best shotgun driver, backseat driver, and all around right hand man to have along on a drive like that!!
That drive was so much fun being with Michael stuck in a small, standard stick shift car in the middle of a blizzard, and I had to get us both home safe and sound!! And Michael made it into such a fun, exciting and wonderful adventure, I will never forget! Every time I think of Michael, this is the best memory every!! His sense of humour never failing, his sarcasm, teasing, but still supportive and encouraging and full of compliments!! He was patient when I would have panicked, reassuring me and complementing me constantly, and he was the one who got us back home to Sally safe and sound through a blizzard I hadn't experienced for many, many years!!
I will be forever grateful to Michael for the memory of that trip, the relationship we developed as a result of it, the fun, the jokes, the humour, and the generosity of spirit that he always had for me are what I will always love and remember about Michael!! Did I tell you that this visit was also the first time the two of us had met!!! After all these years, I finally got to meet Michael, the love my of my sister's life! A man I only knew third hand and only in pictures, but from the first, we hit it off, and we always enjoyed each other's company very much! With Michael around, there was never a dull moment and he made that drive the drive of my life!! Absolutely Uproarious!!! (Is that a real word? lol!)
Michael - My Uproarious Friend Always!!
