I never used to believe in luck. I always thought that a person created their own luck. You just had to be in the right place at the right time, and be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself. Then when that opportunity came around, you grabbed ahold of it and ran with it as fast and as far as you could. That's what I always thought.
Well, after working for more than thirty years and then putting my dear wife of twenty years into the ground, I've become resigned to spending the rest of my life more or less how I spent the prior thirty years. That is, paying bills, mowing the yard, having a beer with the guys every Friday night and getting in a round of golf about once a month or so. Although I tried to be prepared and ready to move forward, the so-called opportunities never did seem to come my way. The other guys seemed to have all the luck.
The only difference now is that I decided to retire. I had years of service and age, plus the insurance payout when my wife died. That left me the option to kick back and contemplate my future as my wife's premature death left me adrift. Treading water or slowly sinking was probably a good description of my current life.
"Hey Peter, your turn to buy a round." Stevie-boy complained. So I hailed a nearby waitress and indicated a round for the guys. Stevie-boy used to hate his nick name when we were young but we refused to call him anything else but that; even now that he's pushing 60. Somewhere along the line, he kind of figured out that there's no sense in trying to hold back the tide with a spoon.
"So where are you and the missus going on vacation this year?" I asked.
"We were figuring on visiting Rambo and his family up in Omaha later this year."
Rambo was Stevie-boy's first son, Richard. Went into the Army as an infantry grunt and 12 years later he's a captain. All sorts of medals and ribbons on his uniform. Richard made Stevie-boy and his wife really proud. For those of us who knew Richard, it didn't surprise us one bit. The boy was a military man through and through; hence the nick name.
"And what you gonna do for your vacation this year?" Stevie-boy asked.
"Don't really know. Haven't really thought about it."
"Well I don't recall you taking one in a long time. Don't you think it's about time that you dust off that ole suitcase of yours and take a trip somewhere? Maybe find a sexy broad to take with you?" Raymond laughed.
Raymond's another one of our bunch. We all went to high school together. Some of us left to go to college or the service. Some of us left to pursue a job somewhere else. A couple of us eventually found our way back to town for whatever reason. In Raymond's case, he never left. Instead he became a minor politician and then the mayor a couple of years ago. We just teased him that he was a busy body that couldn't help but stick his nose into everyone else's business. All ribbing aside, he was good for our town.
"Well Raymond, having to pay those high real property taxes to the city to pay your huge salary kind of leaves me broke each year." I complained. And everyone else laughed including Raymond.
"Broke, my ass." Raymond smiled. "You and that fucking mansion that you live in."
"Hey, can I help it if Charlie wanted a big house?" Charlie, or rather Charlotte, was my dear departed wife. I still remember her smile and hug that used to set my world on fire. Something inside of me died the day that she succumbed to the cancer that had eaten her from the inside out.
But Raymond was right. I hadn't taken a vacation ever since Charlie died. It just didn't feel the same. It didn't feel right.
"All kidding aside Peter, it's about time you got your life back. We all know that Charlie meant everything to you, but she's not here anymore. You're just kind of existing and not really living. We all worry about you." Stevie-boy said solemnly. And the rest of the guys all nodded their heads.
I paused, took a sip from my beer, and sighed. "Yeah, well you guys might be right. I'll give it some thought. Thanks for thinking of me." And we went back to drinking and bragging and lying about our golf game.
Woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. The weather looked like it would be sunny and I was scheduled to do 18 holes with Stevie-boy, Raymond and Burt. Burt was another classmate who went away and came back. But in his case, Burt came back to retire and relax. Burt literally made his millions and was a steady philanthropist with our town as the primary beneficiary. But he insisted that nothing be named after him or his wife.
Burt was always the really smart kid in school. Always aced the exams and graduated as our class valedictorian. He received a full ride scholarship to Cal-Berkley and the next thing we knew, he was the owner of some software company that had done an IPO that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. We figured that his net worth must be bigger than ten digits, but he never said anything about it. That's just the kind of guy that Burt was.
"So what we playing for today?" Raymond asked.
"Same as we always play for, first round at the 19
th
hole and bragging rights." Stevie-boy smiled.
Ahead of us was a foursome of young ladies. Looked like they were college age and could play the game really well. We all watched them tee off in their tight shorts, wiggle their tight fanny's, then smack their golf balls way down the middle of the fairway.
"Good thing they're in front of us and not behind." Burt said.
Raymond laughed, "yeah, I think we would be holding them back. Sheesh. Look at that young thing hit that ball."
WHACK! She must have hit that ball at least 200 yards in the air and it must have bounced and rolled another 30 or 40 yards.
Yeah, good thing they were in front. We would have embarrassed the shit out of ourselves.
As we were putting on the first green Raymond asked, "So Peter, you decide where you're gonna go on your vacation?"
"Ya know, I really don't know. Charlie and I did a little traveling but that was mostly camping trips to national parks and the sort. Although we did make it over to Washington D. C. once just so we could say that we had been there."
"Yeah, know what you mean. We did the same sort of thing when our kids were young." Raymond said.
"Do something different. Go somewhere none of us has been to. Do something that you normally wouldn't do." Stevie-boy said.
'"Like what?" I asked.
And then they all started coming up with suggestions that just didn't work for me, like go to the Mardi Gras and hand out beads to topless women. Or go hang gliding or ballooning. Spend a week at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada. Or enter the World Championship Poker Competition in Vegas (I'm the world's worst poker player). We all had a good laugh trying to come up with weird ideas.
Then Burt said, "I know of an experience that you'll never, ever forget. You'll need to travel to Japan, but the experience will probably change your life forever."
The way Burt said it made us all shut up and listen as he explained. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
"A person that I respected a lot suggested that it would benefit me. I had been working for a couple of years and wasn't really excited about the prospects of the company that I was working for. So I went and I never regretted it one bit."
"So what was it all about?" I asked.
"I can't tell you right now. But if you're interested, come over to my house tonight after dinner and we'll talk about it more."
That was a pretty mysterious explanation. And that made me curious.
"You mentioned that you benefited from the experience?"
"Yes. Immensely. Changed my life." Burt smiled. Now that made all of us curious.
"Can we all come over?" Stevie-boy asked. "This is starting to sound interesting."
"No. Only Peter. He needs this. You don't."
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Golf that day ended up the way it usually did. Raymond was down two strokes going into the last hole so he "pushed" the last hole; double or nothing. Lucky guy made his birdie. We ended up buying his beer. And of course, we expected him to brag about it until the next time we went out.
I went over to Burt's house after dinner. He lives about 15 minutes away from me. Nice enough home for him and his wife. No kids. He said that they got married a little too late for kids.
His wife Kara greeted me at the door. Kara is a knock out. Of Japanese ancestry, she was born in Japan but raised in the US. I think she mentioned going to USC and getting her doctorate in physics from Stanford. I think she said that she used to work at some think tank in Southern California but just burned out.
