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Rarely does genius show its face before noon


Overheard, at the gathering of people for a 6:00 am meeting.
"I've been up this late before, but I've never gotten up this early."


I've always told my friends ( a bit of wisdom from an old white man.), "Pay attention, you never know when you're a witness to significant history." I often recall my Dad taking me to a minor league baseball game in Minneapolis to see a young kid named Willie Mays. Actually, the attraction was some major leaguer who was playing his way back into shape before being called up. Mays was playing to earn his way up to the big leagues. The next time I saw him play in person was in the 1954 World Series in Cleveland.

This week I think I witnessed one of those historic, "I was there when it started"moments. My friends Janet and John Brownson and I were having our traditional after gym breakfast. We were finished eating, enjoying our conversation and coffee when the waitress came up to the table with two coffee pots in hand and said to John, "Did you want decaf?"

I have to explain something about John. He fancies himself a comic for good reason. He's one of those people that can take shorthand language and mock it by stating it as literal conversation. For instance, if you mock John for being bald, he will quickly remind you that he isn't bald, but he shaves his head by choice. He can claim that he could afford a new truck, but he chooses to drive two older vehicles, one for his tools and another for....? I forget why, but the excuse sounds logical when he says it.

Remeber when Trump's second wife used to refer to him as The Donald? Very often John acts like a guy we might call The John. He's got an answer for questions nobody ever asks and he will share that knowledge with you at the drop of a hat. He has an air of bucolic superiority that he's earned and deserves. He's also my oldest and best friend, so I can't be open-minded about him.

Back to our breakfast table. Pam, our waitress, asked him if he wanted Decaff coffee. He answered, "If I wanted decaf, I would have asked for more water." We chuckled. Then he brightened up and said, "It doesn't have sugar either." Janet mentioned the lack of calories. I threw no gluten into the pot. I forget the order and the source, but salt, vitamins, chlorine, salmonella were introduced as elements that would be missing from our new product. We could market it. What to name it? We decided to give credit where credit is due. We would market as, "Water from The John."

 I'm always open to questions and comments. I leave you today as you found me this morning or whenever you read or delete this post, confused and hopelessly naive.

Poppa Jeff, holder of the pitching wedge and ruler of...we're working on that.

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