2 • July 2014 • UPBEAT TIMES


Welcome to the Upbeat Times! The Shadow of the Jet by Paul Andrew Doyle, Publisher • paul@upbeattimes.com


ometimes a strange thing has happened to me for quite some time now. I distinctly noticed it while building homes in Windsor, Califonia on a cloudless hot summer day back in 1986. It was 104 degrees and I was on the second level fl oor of a two story luxury home putting together framing walls as an apprentice. One of the other workers, a journeyman carpenter and vietnam vet was on the adjacent home, doing the same thing with his two apprentices. He was a loud brusque man, but nice non-the less and we always got along. When the temperature


S gets


above 100 degrees, it make this type of labor that much more challenging. You drink lots of water and try to stay hydrated and your head bakes under the sun even with a hat. This par- ticular afternoon was especial- ly hot and I couldn’t wait for the day to be over. You see, on job sites, it seems to be a macho thing for men to be men, tough, strong and able to endure any kind of challenge, wound or harassment. All done in jest, it can eat at a person if it goes on for a while, but is intensifi ed by very warm atmospheric condi- tions.


Finally one of us broke. Yep, not me at this point but my fel- low journeyman one house to the west who couldn’t stand


SIGMOND


what I had to say in response to constant ribbing & joking. It’s true, we all don’t always say the right thing, as we know about ourselves. He was so frustrated with his crew, he started yell- ing at me for whatever reason and started fi ring his 16 pen- nie nail gun across the second story fl oor. If any of you know what a nailgun is, especially a framing nailgun, those nails are huge! At least three inches. Fortunately they all missed me. I couldn’t fi gure out how he got them to fi re so fast...it must have been what had learned in the service or something. I kindly asked him to stop


fi ring them. I also didn’t want other guys to loose an eye or two. He kept laughing, saying “Die #$%@#$@!!”, words I shall not repeat. I was so frus- trated. He thought it was a game. All I kept thinking was,


“I want to go back to working in the newspaper business, air- conditioned cars, an offi ce, etc. (I had been working at the Se- bastopol Times & News prior to changing careers to learn how to build homes so I could build one for myself one day. I worked on this particular job site with my older brother, and was very low on the construc- tion totem pole. Finally, I was fed up, heat ex- hausted, and promptly started throwing four or fi ve 96 inch two by fours right at the guy in succession from one rooftop to the other. He start yelling back at me saying, ‘What the heck are you doing?!! I said, ‘I’m pretending to be a tornado and your in it’s path! Stop fi ring the nails at me and lets get to work!” He says, “Sorry man, I was just kidding around! You don’t have to get so violent!”


Reprint from 2005 Upbeat Times in... “Fast Food”


It was now over, and we contined working as if nothing had hap- pened. I shook my head wondering what & why this had happened but knew I would be mov- ing on to bigger, better things in my life. Right at that moment, one of the most beautiful jets I’d ever seen, fl ew over me as if in slow motion. The shadow gave me a moment of shade and refl ection about my fu- ture. What did it mean? The jet was very low


since the job site was only a mile or so away from the So- noma County Airport. It made that much more impactful to me.


I would and was doing some-


thing greater with my life, as I thought at that moment in the shadow of the jet, because building those homes was a metaphor for building a life for myself, confi dence and appreciation for all of those people who have come into my life who have helped to shape my character and redirect my dreams of a better life. While working in my garden,


in the past month (I garden fre- quently), three more jets have fl own over me casting a direct shadow helping me to remem- ber the story so I could share it with you. May this issue fi nd you well!


by Paul A. Doyle TM The


Behind the Scenes Publisher:


Valerie A. Doyle


Paul A. Doyle Co-Publisher:


Contributors: Barry O'Meara Gabriel Fraire Marcia Singer Ron Skaar Yerevan


Kimberly Childers Ben Hampton Cindy Cowan Chance Massoro Ellie Schmidt Jean Wong Eloise Tweeten Joanne Mumola Williams Shekeyna Black Ellie Schmidt Jean Wong


Distribution Team:


Roberto Serrano John Follansbee Peter & Mary Menth Don Emerson


Paul Behringer Cindy Cowan Jennie Field Don Hamlow


Narayan & Janet Baltzo Jeannie Haddorff Tarashea Serinitie


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©2014 Upbeat Times. The Upbeat Times is owned and operated by Paul Andrew Doyle. Upbeat Times is a fully copyrighted & registered international trademark. All rights reserved.


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To inspire, publish, preserve and promote the positive characteris- tics, attributes and attitudes of all citizens of every age in our com- munities and the world we live in.


707-494-1767 Phone: 2 • July 2014 • UPBEAT TIMES It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero


©2014 Sigmond. A PAD Studio production.


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