The Verbal Commute 2012 My Friend Larry
the best at what we do or how to make a business success- ful. He'd throw a magazine opened to a specific page with information meant
to teach
me things he thought I could use to be better at what I did, right on top of his ever grow- ing piles of mail and pet promotional material & catalogs. The cool part is, I learned a lot. I
almost felt
like he was like a grandfa- ther teaching me lessons of life, but in a most respect- ful way, or like a caring father would be to his son whom he wanted to be successful. The reason I was chuck- ling as I eluded to earlier was because Larry had handed me a piece of cartoon art of a frog being eaten by a stork or egret of some sort and had its hands around the storks neck. I believe the caption was, but
don't quote me, "Never
give UP!". ''With all those big papers out there, it must be tough. How is the paper doing these days?", he'd ask me. So when I woke up that night, shortly after midnight, a few days after Larry started his new journey, I immedi- ately said to myself, 'That's it! Never give up!'
From the time I start-
ed the Upbeat Times, Larry was in every issue, promot- ing Western Farm Center. He really enjoyed the jokes
for sure. Many occasions he would hand me jokes, but he would say, "This one's not for the paper" all while chuckling to himself. There were a few days where he would call me up and ask if I would run
...CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
He told me it took a while to finally get the piece and asked me to come and take some pictures with him and the art- ist, as he often did for various events.
I took the cover picture at this juncture and again had a good laugh and he made
a
few jokes and smiled. He often invited me as
one of
his personal guests at events he attended
helping to
raise money for people for charita- ble causes. I
stories on various people he knew that needed some extra PR or attention for the good things they were doing in the community. I never hesitated. I thought, for a gentlemen as busy as he was to go out of his way to call me and ask for a favor, I was honored to do it. The truth is, he believed in
me and what I was doing and would tell me so. About four to five years ago I noticed he was slowing down a little. These things you notice about your friends. So I decided to even take a bit more time with him, like going to lunch when we could, and just coming in and sitting down and talking. You see, time is our greatest gift we can give.
A couple of years back he told me of this artist he com- missioned to do a painting for the new building in his name.
A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.
Douglas Pagels The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend. ~Aristotle
felt fortunate to attend these events because I knew he was making a difference in peo- ple's lives. In fact, he would tell me how frustrated he was that he could not help every- one. While visiting with him in his office one day he said
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UPBEAT TIMES • May 2012 • 5 JOKES & Humor # 2
to me, "Look at this. All these people want donations. Look at these letters. What do I do, how do I
choose...it's so hard." I would not make any suggestions accept to say that I knew how difficult it must have been for him. He seemed to want to help everyone. I admire that and always will. I can't give money to people in need but I can publish infor- mation that will help people to connect. I can give people the time of the day like Larry did for me. That's what friends do I guess. It's not about the money we make, it's about the time we give. Even though I did not men- tion all his achievements(it would take 100's of issues of Upbeat to tell you about them) at least I had the privilege and opportunity to have a part of Larry's life and to tell you about it in an upbeat fashion. I thank Larry also for being my friend. He is a example of what it means to be a great human being. And I'll try not to miss him, but it might be hard for a while.
A young and over confident pilot wanted to sound cool on the aviation
frequencies. This was his first time approaching a runway at night...
Instead of making any offi- cial requests to the tower, he said: "Guess who?" The controller switched the runway lights off and replied: "Guess where?"
Pg 5
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