2016

 Merry Christmas My Friends!! 

    

    After a year that seemed to fly by at times it is once again time to reach out to all Y'all and draw you in to share the Tidwell goins ons. I  write to you from a distant and exotic location where I endeavor to build another architectural and cultural pinnacle of world changing importance. Or as we in the trade might put it... I am in Magee, Mississippi building a gas station with a big parking lot and a tire barn... but hey it keeps vittles on the RV table and tires on the truck. Finished up the Loves in Guthrie, Oklahoma this time last year and then was sent to a little place called Port Barre, Louisiana. Went from the western motif to rubber boots and crawfish ponds. I finally found a place in the US where instead of people not understanding my mountain twang, I had to really listen hard to start to understand the dialects of all the different Cajun folks from around my job. I was not the ONLY one who talked funny.

   Susan stayed with me until July when I let her head back home to work on some projects and I held out in Louisiana till I finally finished up in October. The time spent down there gave us  more than a few stories to share about different life styles than Susan and I had ever experienced. We were there during Mardi Gras and found that the per capita consumption of beer in that state will rival any German beer hall easily on an hourly basis. Camping has a whole new facet also as we were considered the poor folks of the campground as we didn’t have a tricked out golf cart with bling from bottom to top and speakers mounted with a 1000 amp amplifier to make sure all within a mile knew who’s music they preferred. More than a few Friday nights I would be lulled to sleep while the endless procession of boom carts cruised the campground till 2 or 3 in the morning bemoaning having their last drink with Willie... That and kids roaming the camp in droves playing hide and seek by climbing up the ladder on my camper to hide on the roof after midnight as their parents staggered in hunt of where they left their cart when they went to get more beer... I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impressed... made this ol' Georgia boy feel like the social upper class instead of the poor old carpenter I am.

    I use to have a running joke with the President of Bass that if he ever wanted me to quit, just ask me to go back to Prince William County near Washington DC and that would do it... now I have added another location I never want to return to for a job. But I will say for all the craziness there we still found some wonderful people and folks I would call friend for life for their easy going nature and willingness to help you if you ever needed help. But hopefully they will come to Georgia to visit me and I will NOT have to go back there.

   Well enough of my war stories... the more important stuff is that the family is still doing well and hanging close to our home where we can see each other without having to make day long drives... except for me that is being on the road, but that will come to end in the not too distant future... but that is another story as they say. Carrie and Melissa's husbands and significant others are all doing well as are all the grandkids and their significant others also. Both the girls are trying to find just the right job allocation that fits what they enjoy doing and I think they are learning what that is pretty well. The grandkids also are moving about in their jobs and schools and seeing what suits them or doesn’t.

    We just got back from most all the crew heading up to spend a weekend at a cabin in Pigeon Forge and going to Dollywood for the Christmas shindig they put on every year. I always liked to try and go up when we could to “get in the spirit” more, kinda like drinking one of those power drinks the kids love so much to get them goin. We had all gone up back in 2009 and this time I decided it would be cool if I could get us a cabin where we could all stay together. Was pretty neat and something I hope we can do again someday. The greatest part of it is that everybody gets along and there wasn’t any drama or feelings of awkwardness as young and old all got along as a family... and THAT was the best part of the trip for me this time... more so than any show at the park or the carols sung by performers... it was what has come from Susan and I meeting after a football game in Ellijay some 45 years ago and the story just keeps getting better every year with the additions. I am very proud of all of the clan and of all they have done and all that is yet to come. And I know all of y'all out there with families big and small feel the same about all yours... and I hope you take the time out from all the craziness that can seem to bury you each and every day with all the negative news, politics and “stuff” to just think about your kids, sisters, brothers, and parents if yours are still with you and rejoice in what a blessing kin folk can be. If you are like me, you feel like you won the lottery.  Susan asked me several times up at the cabin this weekend what I wanted for Christmas... I just told her this is fine.

This past year had some sadness in it as sometimes comes, with the passing of some of my dear fellow supers in the company. First we lost Bob Love. He had a stroke and was fighting his way back but found it was his time and finally went on to what I hope is a place that puts a smile in his heart and he gets to hear Rocky Top sung as many times as he wants to hear it. Always enjoyed talking and being around Bob back when we supers were less in numbers and occasionally got to see each other which we don’t at all anymore. Then later in the year lost a very dear friend Brad Hayes who I had just spoken with a couple of days before he was called home and we were joking about him being a devout Republican and having to sit in the airport in Philadelphia right after the democratic convention let out, Hillary folks all around him. I recommended him getting a I’m with Her shirt and putting it on... can’t remember his exact words but seems it was derogatory to my suggestion. Then 2 days later he was gone. I will miss Brad and all he meant to the company and to his family and we friends he shared his life with daily.

            But we are left here to carry on as others pass on and leave a legacy to spread of goodness that is still left to spread each in our own way. And I want to brag that I think I have a cream of the crop family and bunch of friends that allow me to stick a stamp on an envelope each year and send them my ramblings about life in the ever growing Tidwell clan... if nothing else these once a year sharings can make an excellent fire starter or at worst a liner for the bird cage. I do hear rumblings of folks grousing about getting diatribes extorting all the achievements of ones family (had TWO 25 cent words there!) and I might be somewhat guilty of that but hey... At 5o cents or so a stamp I figure I have bought my ticket to send it out each year. So suck it up you grumblers!! At least it only comes out once a year!! Susan puts out a most excellent blog with pictures and everything online pretty often or when something interests her she wants to share, I store mine up, and thank God time tends to make me forget some things during the year that happen as when something really nutty happens I mention to Susan that something might be “letter worthy”. Mostly it would be embarrassing moments at some others expense... I need to start jotting these things down apparently.

            As the end of this year comes to a close and 2017 comes rushing in, I wonder about the life that awaits us all and hope with all my heart that the good outweighs the bad and at this time next year I am still able to find the joy of sending out again this little excerpt about life from where I see it.  To all my road warrior peers scattered out across the country, I hope you get more time with your families... don’t take it for granted they will always be there. I am as guilty as any and I am going to try and stay in touch with not only family but you my friends as well... won’t send out two letters a year, don’t worry. those stamps ain’t cheap ya know. And I can only get Susan to lick, stuff, and stamp all those envelopes but once a year. But, I will try and send out more sarcastic texts and e‑mails... but NO tweets... I just don’t understand that whole thing, leave that to the Trumps of the world I guess.

           

And as I  don’t get to say this too often - GO JACKETS!!!!! Na-na-na-na–na... just like Cicadas only come out every 7 years, we Georgia Tech folks lay dormant for long stretches but by God this is our 7th year UGA!!! Okay, got that out of my system...

            May all of you have a wonderful Christmas with your families. Do me a favor and step out on a limb and do some random kindness for strangers you meet. When you eat at that little hole in the wall diner at work, leave the waitress a $20 tip... or if you see a group of military folks at a restaurant, pick up the tab, you get the jest. It seems easier to do it during Christmas, but try doing it other times, you never know when you tip that one domino over where it all will end. See how good it makes you feel... just some thoughts, but hey y'all already knew all this, I know you did cause all of y'all are the bestest friends and we Tidwell’s Love ya!!

Merry Christmas, Buddy and Susan