Happy Monday!
Today I want to share a story because I love, love, love my friend Rod so dearly. Rod has been deployed to Kuwait for the last year and recently contracted a very serious infection after a relatively minor surgery.
Rod and I met in 1995 when I moved back to Northern California after working for Disney in Burbank. I was working in San Francisco when Rod came into my office and asked about interest in taking his self defense class for women. I was running an employment agency at the time and thought it would be a great idea for my staff and any of our temps who wanted to participate. We did the class and I loved it! I asked Rod what I needed to do to be able to teach these classes, too and his response was classic, "You have to spend a specific number of hours rolling around on the floor with me until I think you are ready to teach." I half way laughed and replied, "Really? You're kidding, right?" He said, like only Rod can, "Well, not really." He trained me to teach with him, I joined the American Women's Self Defense Association (AWSDA) and we taught lots of classes all over California.
It wasn't long after we met that I rented an apartment in San Francisco and had no one to help me move. Rod offered and showed up in Hayward to help me pack up my car and a truck and off we went. We got stuck in a major traffic jam on the San Mateo bridge and by the time we got to my apartment, Rod had already missed his volleyball game. As we approached my apartment and I started up stairs, Rod asked, "Where are you going?" I told him I was going up to the apartment. "Why aren't you taking the elevator?" he asked. If I could have thought to have a camera crew on hand it would have been worth a million dollars to see the look on his face when I told him there was no elevator! Yes, this guy helped me move a bed, dresser, end tables, a chair and who knows how many boxes and bags of clothes up 3 narrow flights of stairs to my little studio apartment!
Rod and I have many fun stories as the years of our friendship have grown, our families are close friends and Rod was in our wedding. We have lived together as roommates, most noteworthy was early morning of September 11, 2001. Yes, I was awakened to my radio announcing the first plane hitting the twin towers and I immediately went to wake Rod up...we both watched the news in disbelief. On a lighter note, a super funny story is of what I call, "paying the maid." When I do laundry, if there happens to appear any money in the washer or the dryer, I consider it a tip. Rod was not a wallet kind of guy so it was very common for him to put his cash in his pockets. He would let me keep a $5 or a $10, but one day he came home, got out of his work clothes and jumped in the shower. I walked by his room with an open door and saw his dirty clothes piled up so I picked them up to put in the wash. As I checked his pockets, I squealed with delight! All I said was, "YOU JUST PAID THE MAID!" and from the shower I could hear him yelling, "NO! NO! I DIDN'T! I DIDN'T PAY THE MAID!" Rod had just cashed a check and had $300 cash in his pocket. He jumped out of the shower, still soapy, soap getting in his eyes and just wearing a towel protesting that he did not put his pants in the laundry so he didn't pay the maid. I didn't keep his money, but again, where was my video crew with him standing there darn near naked with soap stinging his eyes not sure if I was going to give him his money back?
Finally, one of my all time favorite stories is when we traveled to S. CA to teach a series of self defense classes. We taught a class, I met his mom on that trip, and Rod took me to a banana farm. I learned that there are 237 varieties of bananas and I purchased an apple. Rod was aghast, "What the heck? I bring you to a banana farm and you buy and apple?" We still laugh about that, but in my defense, the bananas all just looked like bananas and this was a passion fruit apple, have you ever seen/tasted a passion fruit apple? On that same trip, Rod came down with a horrible toothache. It got so bad I had to take him to an emergency room where the doctor gave him a dose of morphine and prescribed demerol to get him home and until he could see his dentist. The doctor told me to do the best I could to keep him comfortable but to not take anything he said too seriously, they even sent him home with a pillow (for free!). When they put him in the car, they buckled him in and no sooner did they have him settled, he was out. I popped in a Gin Blossoms CD and started the trek north to get us both home. As the music played and I was singing along I began to hear Rod mumble, it was inaudible and I just figured he was dreaming. But Rod clearly had something to say and was so doped up, he was struggling to say it. I was concerned so I pulled off the freeway to see what was wrong, ultimately what Rod was saying is, "The doctor said no country." I laughed my ass off! The last track on the Gin Blossoms CD is one with a bit of a country music melody and Rod does not like country music, he figured he could make the music for the trip home part of his prescription. I know this is way funnier for me, but for those of you who know Rod, you will appreciate how funny this was.
Rod underwent his 8th surgery yesterday and finally, they are not detecting any infection. I was really worried about my friend as MRSA is nothing to fool around with. I want Rod to know how much he means to Dave, Mason and I and I know so many more people have stories just like mine.
Let's share our favorite memories now, while our loved ones can share in the joy with us, let's not wait until we are sharing through our grief. Rod I love you man, you are one of my dearest best friends! I'm glad you are on the mend and I couldn't be happier that you have your most awesome wife Cathleen with you through all of this. And Cat, if you are reading this, "The doctor said no country!"
Big smiles!
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