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I have arrived !
After driving 2 days up from Florida,
I made it home safely last night.

It was quite an interesting trip including a near accident meeting a famous person
and even a tornado

I'll tell you about the famous person meeting tonight and blog about the other 2 more problematic occurrences later.

My trip back started with a hug from my aunt.
She was all teary-eyed saying how much she would miss me. I reminded her that her son would be there in a couple of weeks foir her birthday.

So, my next stop was to drop off the cable box & remote.
I was somewhat dreading doing this, because the line there can
be rather long. As it turned out, however, I actually wished it was longer. Confused ? I don't blame you
I certainly never before wished a line that I waited in was longer. But, let me explain.

As I'm walking toward the Comcast front door, I see a very tall (about 6'7") thin guy also headed for the door. He's closer to it than me, but I figure, if I walk a little faster, I will beat him to it.
Apparently, he noticed me slightly speed up out of the corner of his eye, because he did the same.
So, he beat me to the door and we're both waiting in a fairly long line. I'm looking at this guy's face every time he turns to the side and I'm thinking, "can it be ?"

I should tell you that the cable company office where we were is in Port St. Lucie, Florida. It's the same city where the New York Mets (baseball) team has their spring training.

So, I ask, "are you Pelfry ?" Now, you may not know who "Pelfry is, but many New Yorkers do. Mike Pelfry, or "Big Pelf" as he's known to the NY sportswriters in tonight's opening day picher for the New York Mets.

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The gentleman in line in front of me responds, "Yes, I am" and he turns to extend his hand for me to shake. I retort, "I thought I recognized you, but I figured you'd probably have someone do this (return cable box) for you. He's says,
"I wish".

I have to tell you, what a terrific person this guy is. We spent over 1/2 hour talking to each other. The whole time he's turned around backwards to face me and was interesting, interested in what I had to say, and was very positive. He is a genuingly nice guy. I was impressed, because some of the pro ballplayers can get a 'I'm better than you' and 'I don't want ot be bothered' attitude. He did not have this at all. We talked about his health, the team, his teammates, my sports playing and even what I would do to change the team.

When he was next in line, he again shook my hand and said, "it was a true pleasure meeting you Jim". Before he turned to face the front, I stated, "It was very nice meeting you too Mike. Have a great season, I'll be rooting for you." With a brief pause, I then added, "...not that it will matter much" and I chuckled a bit. He said, "no, it matters a lot !" I said, yeah, when the crowd is behind you, there's few things better than that."
Then, I chuckled again and said, "not that I would know. The most I'd ever had cheering for me is less than 100 people."
He chuckled at that. I don't blame him, he routinely has 53,000 people standing on their feet cheering for him.
In hindsight, my staement was exactly true, because my high school football games had a lot more than that. But, I was thinking baseball.

.........(continued in the first comment below)