The Worst Thing I've Ever Done

I had lunch yesterday with a guy I've worked with for several years.  He and I did not always get along.  In fact, I recall flying over the conference room table and getting in his face when he pushed me just a little too far.  It was a moment I thought I was going to get fired.  Instead, I got applause from the other members of the board for sticking up for myself. 

Several years have passed and now he and I are friends.  Now he is getting older and has some health issues.  He is stubborn as all getout and still goes to work everyday despite doctor orders to stay home and rest.  He can't.  I think he knows that he has more time behind him on this earth than in front of him.  He won't admit it, but he's scared.  He's losing weight and he's not trying to.  That's never good.

I got a history lesson yesterday at lunch.  This guy I work with goes back in Sonoma County about 100 years.  There are layers upon layers of Hatfield and McCoy type antics that still play into the backgound of Sonoma County society to this day.  He told stories about who married whom, whether or not it was a shotgun wedding, and the true identity of the father of some children -- and the husband thought all along the kids were his.  Scandalous!!

There were stories about affairs, what happened when one of the spouses found out, the nasty divorce, and all the bitter tactics a spurned lover or spouse do to the current love interest to sabotage the new relationship.  There were stories about boot letters and drug dealers.  He knows which businesses are actually legitimate and which are fronts for smuggling.  He knows which cops are paid off.  There were stories about family dynamics and mental illness.  The one I found particularly sad was that where a man shot himself.  His son used the same gun to kill himself.  The grandson used the same gun to kill HIMSELF.  Talk about a cycle of self-destruction. 

The guy I work with then got off on a tangent about some of the things he's pulled over the years.  He said the worst thing he's ever done was smuggle drugs to a woman in rehab.  She got caught with them and got kicked out.

I can't make this stuff up, people.