THE PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER: I picked him up in the Charleston area and found out that he plays for the Charleston team which just ended their season without making the playoffs. He was about ready to start his off season workouts. He had two older brothers who were not as good a player as he was, but it certainly helped him in his career. He's 28 years old and is a midfielder who has played with a number of teams. He once lived in Iceland for 18 months and played a game in below zero weather. I told him I couldn't imagine how a leg would feel kicking a ball in those temperatures and he calmly said, "the body adjusts". I don't think mine would. I got his autograph and I looked Robbie up online to check his career. He's from Scotland and we talked about his country. One of my favorite Paul McCartney songs is, "Mull of Kintyre", which is about a place in Scotland. I asked him if he had ever been there and he hadn't. It was a lot of fun talking with him and when I dropped him off I turned on my iPod and one song later was, "Mull of Kintyre."
THE DESIRE TO SERVE: Each year thousands of young people sign up to go into the military. Many of them have had members of their family who served and many of them are looking for a better opportunity with the training and the financial rewards. My passenger signed up for six years and has four more years to go. For several years after high school he needed to help his family through a difficult financial situation and he did it as a plumber, making $40 an hour. His reason for joining the Navy? He said, "I felt that I could help protect my family and my country, it was something I could do and it was important." When he gets out of the Navy, he plans to go back to work as a plumber where he knows it's a needed skill and he'll be able to make more money to raise his own family. I was impressed with his sincerity, his maturity and his commitment to do something good for our country. He has a great future in front of him and he believes that the Navy is making him better prepared for it.
THE PROFESSIONAL SINGER: She was performing locally in a show and told me she had worked in 70 countries over the past few years. Due to the traveling, she said, "it's a hard life." She told me that her favorite music was opera. I told her I once asked as opera student to sing a line for me, but I didn't ask her to do it. She joked that she was, "forced" into the career since her parents were both musicians. She was happy to have a nice off day and was going to spend some time on the beach.
TALKING MORE CHICKEN: I picked up the woman to go the local supermarket and she told me that she was getting a rotisserie chicken and that's all I needed to here. I told her some of my "chicken" stories and she was amused. I also told her that if she couldn't finish it and didn't want to deal with the carcass, she should give me a call and I'd pick it up for free. I didn't think that was going to happen. The very next day, I picked up the same woman and she was feeling a little guilty. She said, "I really don't like chicken, but I was craving it yesterday." She didn't want me to have the wrong impression. Apparently, her mom used to make a lot of chicken and so that's why she doesn't really like it. And that of course led to me explaining to her how I feel about pizza. At least I enjoyed talking chicken.
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