I have picked up a lot of couples and I have heard some amazing stories on how people met, but this may be the best one. I picked up a couple living in Florida and they told me that they had been married for 38 years. I asked the husband, who had his own finance company, "How did you meet?" He started laughing and told me this story:
"We met at McDonalds where she was working. She was in high school and I was in college. I was with friends and they were talking to her at the counter. I was sitting at a table and one of my friends moved and I saw her for the first time. She took my breath away. It's the only time in my life that everything moved in slow motion like a movie. I walked up to the counter and the first thing I said was, "I'm going to marry you."
I asked her what her response was and she said, "I blew him off and through away his number." She was dating someone else. He visited the McDonalds several times and when her relationship with her boyfriend was ending, she gave him her number. The rest is history.
I enjoyed telling them that I met my wife at Burger King and we've been married 41 years. We have a lot in common.
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A FRENCHWOMAN
She was from the Bronx, New York, and she was impressive. Her marriage was breaking up and she had four children between the ages of 1-15 and she decided to move to France to get a fresh start. She did a little bit of everything to make it work and also had another two children in France where she has lived for 32 years. Her best story she told me at the end of the ride. She said, "I was due with my fourth child and I cleaning the crib and I had to give birth suddenly by myself. I wrapped the baby up in a blanket and I called the midwife to come over and cut the chord." She is one independent woman!
A GOLFING LEGEND
I am not a golfer, but I could tell this guy had done very well in the golfing world. He said that he was, "A putting guru," and learned from one of the greatest. He told me, "I once gave Tiger Woods a tip." He once got a putting tip with Jack Nicklaus from E. Harvey Ward, who was one of the best golfers in the 1950's. He told me that he won two hundred amateur tournaments and as a golf instructor he would charge people, "$3,000 per hour." With another golfer he sold, "Over four million videos," on how to golf. He's had quite an exciting career traveling the world and when he saw my money collection, he said, "I'm impressed."
EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG
He is close to turning 81, but he gave me the best laugh of the day and it was totally unexpected. He was in great shape so I asked, "How are you in such great shape, what's your secret?" He said, "Cheerios." After I stopped laughing the black man said, "I used to eat the colored ones when I was young." We figured out that he actually meant, "Fruit Loops." In his life he worked as a photographer, artist, and musician and he is still working in a store nearby where I dropped him off in downtown Charleston. He did get around to saying that he has eaten healthy for a long time and, "Stayed away from the meats." He was a pleasure to drive, but I don't think I'll look at Cheerios the same way again.
A COLLEGE PROFESSOR
I had a great time talking with a professor from Georgia Tech, the school my youngest daughter graduated from. He was working in product development for medical devices and was not enjoying it. "I decided I needed to do something doable and that didn't irritate me. He got the job at Georgia Tech and would up teaching a class in senior design and a semester many years in Ireland. He's about to retire and he had some great advice for anyone-"Stick to the things that bring you joy."
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
I was driving in a remote area of Charleston, South Carolina, probably 2 1/2 hours from Myrtle Beach where I live. A moment before leaving the area I got a ride from a woman who used to live New York. I'm from New Jersey and it's not unusual for me to pick up someone from New York, but when she said she lived in Myrtle Beach, that is very uncommon. She said to me, "What are the odds," and that was odd. The book I am currently reading, that was in my car, is called, "What are the odds?"
We continued talking and laughing about the coincidences and she asked where I lived in Myrtle Beach. After telling her, she said, "My parents live right there!" They live in the same neighborhood. She asked me if we had a dog and I told her we did and we walk around the neighborhood all the time. Her parents have a dog and the dog's best friend is Dewey. Dewey is my dog's best friend. If that wasn't enough, I found out the night or two before we met, I was walking with a few people which included her mom. What are the odds of that?
IT'S FINE, FINE, FINE!
Usually when there are four passengers in my car there is a lot of talking going on and this was no exception. There was one couple and two friends going to a party, which of course is fine. One of the three women did say, "I hate these people," but she was joking. They were not a young group, all over thirty and under seventy and if I'm wrong it will have to be... fine.
One woman told the story of going to another party recently that she had to pay I think $130 to go. She was surprised, but said, "It was fine." She said, "It's fine," many times and the one guy and I started repeating it. It was not the normal conversation I have in the car, but it was fun and of course, it was fine. They were all very nice, but it's probably the only ride I've ever had that centered around one word....fine.
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