Good Times Way Back When...

I was reminded of something yesterday when I went to the grocery store. What sparked this memory was the fact I took about $8.00 in change with me. It was change I had gathered up, and it wasn't enough to roll, and so I thought i'd get rid of it.

When I got to the cashier, I said, "Jenn, I have a pocketful of change here, I just want to get rid of it". Well Jenn, the owner is a very nice young lady, and she said, "No problem, I can always use change."

It was at that moment this memory came flooding back to me. I said, "Jenn, let me tell you a story about change..."
When my wife and I were first married, we basically lived paycheck to paycheck. We didn't go out often, but every once in awhile we would. we were sitting around one night, and I had the urge to go out. So I mentioned it to my wife. She of course said we didn't have the money, I told her I'd look after it, and besides, our friend Willie was going to be playing his guitar and singing there that night.
So she took me for my word, and called my mothers house to see if my brother Kelly was home and if he'd babysit for us.

One of my brothers was 15 at the time, and we'd often get him to babysit for us. The kids loved him, probably because he was like a big kid himself, and he would play all kinds of foolish games with them.

So my brother Kelly showed up at the required time, and off we went. We got to the bar, and took our seats, and since we come from a small town, and I was a regular "patron" of the bar, the bartender knew me quite well.

Paul the bartender was a big man, and a very nice man, in fact we hired him to be bartender at our wedding a few years before. So he took our order, 2 draught, which at the time were 55 cents each! He returned to our table with the draught, and I hauled out of my pocket, $11.00 in rolled up pennies!All he could do was laugh, and my wife, well she was thinking about crawling under the table! I was laughing too, and finally my wife couldn't help but laugh either.

Anyway, my friend Willie played that night, and whenever he was there, I'd always ask him to play Mr. Jogangles and some James Taylor for us, which he always did. He had always reminded me of JT in a lot of ways, he was a great guitar player with a sweet, mellow tone...

We had a great time that night, at the bar, and at home... best was it only cost me $11.00!