Chuck's Eulogy

[DeCav]

Thought this would be a good out of the way place to put an off topic subject:

I told Dave and Tom Thursday morning I would begin immediately on words to say for today. Dave asked me last night how it was coming and I sheeplishly said, "Charles would have expected no less of me than to put off writing it till the last minute."

Two different people asked me to keep this around 10 minutes long. What I find odd is both these people know me very well and I can't imagine it didn't occur to them that they were rearranging chairs on the Titanic when asking me that.
I'll say this:
In the immortal words of John Paul Stubbs: "I've not yet begun to speak!"

One chapter of my life ended when I lost my mother suddenly and unexpectedly many years ago. My life seemed to immediately turn upside down that night and the future seemed even more uncertain than when I'd previously been told my parents were to divorce.

The first day without my mom I held things together for a bit but when my friends Matt and Charles rode up to my grandmother's house to offer their support is when the dam holding in my emotions truly broke free.

Walking across the lawn of my grandmothers house to meet Charles and Matt, the tears started flowing before I made it to Charles arms.

I will never forget that moment of having my two best friends there to support me and help me grieve my loss.

What lay ahead of me was a life without my mother, one of the most important people to me and try as I might I could not imagine how to navigate that road or indeed what the road would even look like.

But I knew I had not lost everything because I had my brothers. I had my other parent. I had my grandparents and not least I had my friends who would march through Hell for me. Slowly life started to make sense again month by month, year by year. I still carry some degree of bitterness from time to time about what my mother has missed out on, the good times she surely would have had if she'd met my wife and met her 2nd grandson Ash. But pondering what would or could have been is just a part of life I have reluctantly learned to accept. I don't like it but I can't change it so I accept it and try not to dwell on it.

This week once again life seemed to come crashing down on me and once again another chapter in my life has ended.

I will say unequivically it was a page turner of a chapter that began in West View elementary school when I first met Charles Plemmons in Mrs. Rich's 3rd grade class. Years later we would wind up again sharing a class in 6th grade and in our first year of high school experiencing our first Dorman lunch period surrounded by people we didn't recognize we immediately bonded if for no other reason than we were nervous and eager to eat our first lunch with a familiar face.
Matt had moved to Spartanburg with his father when Chuck and I were in the 7th grade at Dawkins. Matt became quite popular at his new school in his new classroom with all new classmates. His love and passion for gaming spread like wildfire through his new group of peers. Before long he was hosting hour long game sessions at his house with all of his new friends playing mostly Dungeons and Dragons. Though Charles was not in the same class with Matt and I, the two of them had a gym class together and became good friends when they discovered they both had a passion for games and history. The three of us were just starting to form the bond of friendship but before Matt and Charles and I became the close friends that we did, Matt moved to New England for a couple of years.

Me, Kevin Stephenson, and Charles Plemmons began eating lunch together that first day and every day after that for four years of high school at Dorman. After graduating high school, Matt moved back to Spartanburg to attend college and over that time the friendship between the 4 of us grew and grew.
It was inevitable after developing a friendship with Chuck that one day I'd come visit his house and meet his family. The first of Charles' family that I met was his oldest brother Tom. Tom was standing on the front porch as me and Chuck approached through the front yard. Consistent with my high school peers at that time during the mid to late eighties, I had begun letting my hair grow out.

Tom took one look at me and Chuck and casually asked Chuck, "Who's your new girlfriend?"
Chuck said, "This is my friend Mark and he's not a girl."
"Are you sure?", asked Tom.

At that point we must have turned to walk away and seek entrance into the house another way because as we were walking away Tom called out, "She's prettier from behind!"

From that point on it's really just one roiling cauldron of great memories. Years and years of friendship between me, Chuck, Matt, and Kevin. The early years involved two past times. Ford Mustangs and pyromania. Riding around looking at cool muscle cars and buying fireworks and setting fire to all things flammable and some seemingly not so flammable. Chuck is the only person I've ever heard of that set an entire creek on fire. And he's defintely the only person in the world to set a creek on fire with me standing in the middle of it. One day he went to grab the wheel barrow and his father William told him to leave that wheel barrow alone because it was a sophisticated piece of equipment. Instead Charles said, "Well I just grab this can of gas then if I can't play with the wheel barrow."

As I said, my friendship with Charles was a page turner. Never a dull moment. He wasn't a wild or careless person. He was just fun and he loved to laugh and joke. Probably why we got along so good was that we were both kinda goofy and silly.

Through most of high school Matt lived in NC but would come visit during the summers. Matt, Chuck, and I were never at a loss to find something to do even if it was gaining entrance to the old Dorman campus in the middle of the night and running around exploring it. I couldn't tell you how long it's been since a group of Stubbs and Plemmons were running around Dorman in the middle of the night with no obvious purpose. It was one of Matt's visits during a summer when Matt brought a video camera and we captured a week's worth of fun loving silliness, a fondness for life and for living and thank God an inclination to document it. We still have the tape of the three of us clowning around for 5 days straight and irreverently we titled it The Adventure Of A Lifetime. Still possessing that tape to this day it strikes me that there could be no better title for our youth together.

After graduating high school in NC Matt applied to colleges back in Spartanburg so he could be close to Chuck again. And that began a chapter of life with Matt and Chuck that included them being roommates and Matt working at the greenhouse with Chuck to help make ends meet. It has always been a big laugh that when it came time for Matt to put together a resume after college that they put down Charles as Matt's employer and gave Matt the distinguished title of Plant Manager.

From that point on, life kind of took the wheel from us where before we felt like we had the wheel in life. The four of us floated in and out of each other's lives, occassionally falling off the face of the earth depending on which one of us got shot by cupid's arrow and when or whether it was actually cupid's chain around our ankle instead of an arrow through our heart which was as often the case.

But through it all we found out and even expressed the sentiment that though one of us might go AWOL for 6 months or more in any given year, when we did reconnect there was no awkward period, no, "Where have you been all this time??"

No matter how much time passed between us seeing each other we always just picked up exactly where we'd left off without missing a beat.

It's always fascinated me how any one person is one big giant puzzle. And each and every person who was a part of Chuck's life carries their own set of pieces of that puzzle. And not one of us can ever know or see the whole finished puzzle. I have sections of the puzzle that are mine and mine only. Pieces of Charles' puzzle that no other person on earth might ever see. Matt has years of experiences with Chuck that I may never know of.

Kim has a lion's share of the puzzle pieces of Charles' life. But DJ has experiences with his father that only he may ever know. Savannah has her own share of personal experiences with with her dad. Dave, Tom, Shelby, William, Kelly, Jacob, Emily, Sarah, every friend, relative, customer, stranger, or passing acquaintance each possess a special portion of Chuck in their memories and taken all together, these shared experiences with this person, when collated and put together into a coherent picture would I believe give us the full scope of Charles.

It is disheartening that it seems it's only these times when we gather together to say goodbye to someone that so many people with so many pieces of this larger than life puzzle can begin to kneel down and place their pieces into this picture and more fully illustrate the man he was. It seems probable that only Charles had every piece, every thread of his own tapestry. Any one of us would be hardpressed to paint that picture fully. I doubt any one person could make as complete a picture of one of us as would be made with the effort of every friend or family member we ever knew. Though it seems intuitive that I possess all my own pieces, if someone came up to me and asked, "Who are you? What's your story?" I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'd probably look around to those around me for help in answering such a question.

I knew Charles very well I think. I knew some of his deepest darkest thoughts at times. And of course I have wonderful memories that are just between me and him. Great movies we watched together. Awesome football games. Road trips. Parts of Chuck that are mine and only mine. But then I look through the photo albums and I hear stories. I see the photos of trips Chuck took to toy shows. Family reunions. Pictures of him and Kim on vacation. Pictures of him and the kids just goofing off and passing the time until they'd see mom again. I hear Matt tell stories of working at the greenhouse and him and Chuck building Star Wars lightsabers out of PVC tubes and painting them red and green and having lightsaber battles. I see these pictures and hear these stories and realize everyone else has their own piece of Charles that they will keep forever and it'll be a memory that no other person will have shared with him. It makes me jealous and makes me wish I could have also been there hanging out doing these things that Chuck was doing with the other people in his life. And I know that no matter how much my best friends have shared with me through our lives I still only know a small part of them. I still only experience a small part of their happiness and their sorrow.

Sometimes a celebrity gets celebrated and their life gets told either through television, a movie, or a book. For the rest of us it seems it takes a loss to bring everyone together to celebrate someone special to us. And hopefully, though we'll never see the full completed puzzle (I believe only God gets to see that), we can come together today in the next few weeks and talk and share stories and dig deep for buried or obscure memories and get above the trees and see the forest in all it's glory. To Dakota and Savannah I will say this..

Though the mighty Oak has fallen he has left behind a beautiful and fruitful forest that has flourished under his canopy. And like the lovely greenery that lives underneath a beautiful tree, the sunlight that touches every soul in Charles' life was filtered down through his leaves...

Together we can begin this new chapter of our lives. It's a chapter without Charles Plemmons actively participating in it but just as any book or film on physics will include Albert Einstein, any summary of our lives will certainly include Charles Plemmons even the later chapters in the book after Charles' character has taken his leave. It occurs to me to ask everyone now as they think about day to day life without Charles in it, to make efforts when time permits to share stories about him, to show us your puzzle pieces...those precious memories you shared with Charles that might have seemed insignificant at the time or fleeting but which nonetheless add highlights to his life and his memory and help others to know him more fully.

Anyone who's sat around the Plemmons table at the greenhouse during a birthday party or thanksgiving dinner or superbowl event has heard most of the stories. Those stories that are always the largest, most often told ones. The stories we never get tired of hearing.

The story of Charles' Monza...a car so utterly loathsome and untenable as a mode of transportation that when Chuck picked up a hitchhiker on the interstate one hot sweltering afternoon, the stranger couldn't stand it for more than a mile and asked to be let out so he could just continue walking.

Or the story of Chuck's brothers taping him up inside a box and setting it by the mailbox hollering through the cardboard that UPS was on the way to pick him up to ship him to San Diego.

Or the bed of the pickup truck full of Ramen noodles courtesy of Chuck which was Kelly's present when she went away to college

A lot of us know these stories and can tell them and rarely get tired of hearing them. If you haven't heard all these stories, avail yourself of the opportunity to sit around the table at the greenhouse one day and listen to some of them. Again we never get tired of telling and hearing them.

If today is anything I think it's a chance to say goodbye. It's a chance to purge some of the disbelief and the sorrow and the pain brought on by this week. But it's also an opportunity to know Charles a little better than you did before. There's no reason we couldn't have done this when he was still with us but there seems to be many reasons to do this now that he's not.

One of the gifts Charles gave me was a love of Dorman football. I'd always liked it. I used to go to Dorman games with my family when my brother Pete played for Dorman before I was even friends with Charles, before I knew that Pete and Tom were actually teammates. And in high school it was a thing to do obviously. But after graduation we stopped going to Dorman games for several years.

Until I experienced my first crisis with Charles, a time in his life which was testing every bit of fortitude and strength he had to keep going.

The two of us knew that to get through this difficult time we needed a fairly significant distraction so we decided after 3 years of no Dorman games since graduation to go see a game one Friday night. I believe it was Chuck's idea to do this because he'd read in the paper that Dorman had a new headcoach that year. It just stuck. It stuck like glue. There's a lot of things you try in life and tell yourself you're gonna keep doing and don't. But from that first game in 93 we went on a 23 year tear of watching Dorman play every season and it seemed to be something that just kept us going. Every year it was like an oil change for our lives. Some years Dorman seemed to make our engine knock and rattle more than others but it was still great fun and fellowship.

It was actually this new habit we adopted which eventually brought me even more friends. Following Dorman football year after year eventually led me to reaching out through social media and connecting with other football fans. Complete strangers. Some of them Dorman fans like Chuck and I but most of them fans of other schools around the state. Even schools me and Chuck loved to hate and jeer at. That is until we got to know those fans and become friends with them. And because of that it opened up more awesome experiences for my friend and I.

There has been an outpouring of grief and shock and sadness from all over the state this week. People who would have never had a reason to know Charles except for football have texted all kinds of prayers and wishes and even memories this week...
I'll share just a few...
From Jonathon Bolton (an ex team mate of pete and tom and a friend of chucks.)
"Terrible news bro. I don't even know the words. Takes my breath. I salute your determination and love for your good friend and hope you can find some comfort in fond memories. God speed Charles."

From Kevin and Sherri Alewine (Northwestern Trojan fans)
"Please pass on to everyone our profound sorrow. We both loved to be around Chuck and Kim! All of you are in our prayers!!!"

From Michael Morrow
"Charles was one of the nicest people I ever met. He was always such a quality person. I had a lot of respect for him."

From Capuccine Philson ( old friend from the band days)
"I knew him and would have conversations with him when we'd see each other. He was always very warm, approachable and extremely friendly. This is a tremendous loss to Spartanburg County. I send my deepest and most sincere condolences to his wife and children and extended family."

Matt (Bluffton Bobcats) wrote the following this week...
"I met Chuck in the parking lot of Death Valley, Clemson SC for a tailgate before the SC High School Football Championship. He ate all my fresh oysters. That caused a ruckus on the football boards for all the fans who missed out on the oysters.

In 2012, on a Friday night Mark, DJ, and Chuck drove from Spartanburg to Bluffton, SC to watch a game between The Summerville Greenwave and The Bluffton Bobcats. One of the reasons they seemed eager to make such a long trip was because I worked the chains for Bluffton and said I could get them onto the field.

The Bobcats lost to Summerville by a couple of touchdowns but it was still a night to remember with Chuck, DJ, and Mark on the sidelines with me. One of my fellow chaingang members who was 350 pounds gave Mark a chest bump after a Bluffton TD and knocked Mark several feet back through the air before he landed on his rear. All I remember is watching Chuck doubled over laughing at the spectacle. I was thinking, "What a bunch of football junkies to drive that far from the upstate just to goof off on the sideline of a game between two lowcountry teams."

Having you guys on the sideline that night meant so much to me and I have to say Chuck seemed to me like such a great dad to bring his son all that way just to give him that kind of experience. It was a joy watching Chuck and DJ rush up and down the sideline following the line of scrimmage for 4 quarters and for DJ to get close up views of touchdown catches, goal line dives and outstretched reaches for the pylons at the corners of the endzone. Chuck was a great father and a great football fan."

It was Chuck I probably have to thank for me not going down the same road that others my age did. At just the time that I was exposed to drugs and alcohol I was also exposed to Charles Plemmons and having such a wholesome, God-loving friend with a wonderfully strong family helped guide me through the minefield that teenage life can be. Spending time with Charles has honestly never been anything but organic for me. It is as natural and as comfortable and mundane as watching tv. For this reason, Charles was a great counter-measure for me in my formative years.


While riding home last season on a Friday night after just having watched a football game that Dakota played in, Dakota’s father and mother were bragging a bit on Dakota and his sister Savannah.

Charles was saying in a very serious tone,

“My children humble me. They say things to me that I just don’t see coming. Recently DJ rode home with a friend and met a family member of this guy who was a bit older. As I understand it the man started using some racial slurs casually. DJ said his friend looked very uncomfortable. I asked him how it was for him and my son told me it was all he could not to haul off and punch that guy in the face.", Charles said. "He said he could not wait to get away from that person.”

I could tell from the tone of his voice how proud he was to tell me these things. I got the impression that although Charles never did behave in that despicable way that a person with racial biases will, it nevertheless never occurred to him to be purely angry and hostile about it like his son was and to actively contemplate a physical confrontation over offensive language that someone was using.

He also told me,

“Savannah is the same way. The other day I made a joke about someone and she stuck her finger in my face and told me, ‘You better not ever let me hear you say that again!’ I said, yes mam.”

He said , “I’m not sure where they get it. I’m a decent guy but I’m not an activist or anything. Maybe this next generation is just better than us.”

I told him, “They get it from you guys. Your kids are good people because you’re good people because you come from good people.”

Kim is an exemplary mother and a fierce one. I don’t believe I know a mother more outspoken about her passion and pride for her children. She is a den mother known to let you know each and everything that is special about her children and of all their accomplishments and while she has been known to exaggerate slightly from time to time, I recently got a lesson in some of her objectivity.

She had been saying all season long about how the football team just adores Dakota. He is a backup for his football team and rarely gets to put on his helmet and go in. But Kim insisted they just think he is a great guy and an asset to the team. I kind of dismissed it at the time only because though Dakota has always been a great kid, he has also been known to be socially shy at times. I just wasn’t aware of any side of him at the time that might lead me to think he was a leader or at least a great and loyal follower.

Eventually I got an education. Toward the very end of a football game our team was winning handily, the coach called up Dakota finally in his first varsity appearance on the field on a Friday night in front of all the lights and the fans. I was in the stands running my mouth as usual and not paying very much attention when Kim started jumping up and down and shouting, “They’re putting DJ in! They’re putting DJ in!”

Sure enough we looked toward the field and saw him running onto the field. I just jumped up and started running down the steps to the fence behind the team. And when I got down there I heard something I’d never heard before. All up and down the line of players you could hear most of them shouting out heartfelt encouragement...“Come on Dakota!! Go get ’em Dakota! You got it Dakota!!!”

I kind of stared in amazement for a moment. I wondered, “Do they always cheer for the 2nd stringers and I just don’t hear it in the stands?”

’Nah..., ” I thought. My friend from the Bluffton Bobcats, Matt got me and Chuck, and DJ a sideline pass to one of their games several years ago so we were there on the side of the Summerville Greenwave football team. I didn’t recall them calling out or cheering on anyone from their team particularly.

I stood and then looked up into the stands at his mother and then back down at the team again. I thought , “She doesn’t hear them cheering her son on. They’re gonna love this.”

On the 2nd snap after he went out onto the field he ran around the pocket and tackled the runner from behind. It was all a fog to me. His parents could see what had happened but I was unaware until they called out his number and name on the P.A. system and I pumped my fist!

Charles came running down and we high fived. Obviously he was even more excited than me. I got to tell him that Kim was unequivocal. The kids on team were cheering for DJ. He seemed as surprised as me but when we got back up into the stands and told her about the team pulling for him she just looked at me like I was ignorant and said , “Well of course they were! I told you.”

Kevin Alewine, my Northwestern Trojan friend who was there that night had this to write on the football boards:
The lovely mrstg78 and I count it as our privilege to know and interact with Charles, Dakota and Mark. We were attending that game and were witness to that play. To say that there were any prouder parents and friends would be an understatement. It was a special moment to have been a part of!
I started off today by lamenting the end this week to a chapter of my life. And everyone I know hates that the author, as tired as he was of writing page after page of that chapter finally put his pen down and decided he could write no more. Maybe he had writer's block. Maybe his hands were cramping. Maybe he felt his best work was behind him?

Anyway, today is a farewell to that excellent and entertaining author and a celebration of the wonderful work he did when he was determined to lean into it. I think that now we have to have the strength to pick up the pen and keep writing. Start a new chapter. One Charles would be proud of. Something Charles would want to read. One thing that will help is all the work that came before us. All the wonderful source material that Charles Plemmons was. I honestly believe that everything Charles ever said or did was something that made me a better person. And of course this new chapter isn't separated or unrelated to anything that happened before this week. It's just a continuation I think and hopefully the beginning of this new chapter in our lives will begin with a celebration and reflection of the previous chapter.

My friendship with Charles lasted 33 years. That's a third of a century. My intention and what my intuition tells me is that I should take everything good from those 33 years and use that as a foundation for my next 33 years with Charles and the Plemmons family as my inspiration.

To Kym Plemmons:
I can't express how much I appreciate you being in my friend's life. You were the perfect partner for my friend. Charles lived to make his wife happy. It Few people have molded and influenced Chuck quite like his wife Kim. Before she brought home their first dog, Charles would have told anyone willing to listen that he had no use for a dog and definitely no plans to adopt one. Indeed, his reception of the breaking news that he had a dog caused him to have an absolute tantrum which he then promptly apologized for. Not only was Charles able to come to terms with being a dog owner, but against all expectations he grew to sincerely love and adore his animals. Charles lived to please his wife and I never heard him in 18 years of marriage ever say an unkind word about her.
To Savannah Plemmons:
You were always Charles' baby girl. Most fathers are protective of their children but I won't forget the night Chuck was telling me about an issue his daughter was having with a boy at school who was attempting to bully you. I asked Charles what he planned to do.
"There's not much I can do at the moment. If I break his jaw, I'll go to jail because he's a minor. But one day he's gonna turn 18."
To Dakota Plemmons:
I remember standing holding the phone where I used to work talking to Charles who'd just called to ask to speak to me. He'd just told me he and Kim just had a baby boy. I remember having to wipe tears away from my eyes.
For me and Chuck, having kids of are own was a new lease on our own childhood and gave us license not to completely grow up just yet.

On the subject of being forever young, a day before my nephew's birthday I showed Chuck the toy I had bought for Zack. It was a whirley bird helicopter toy. Chuck and I couldn't help ourselves. We unboxed the toy and spent the next 5 hours playing with it until we broke it.
Charles was always stoically proud of you Dakota. He always spoke of you as if you had life by the reigns and the shots would be yours to call.
To Tom and David Plemmons:
Charles never doubted your undying love and devotion to your little brother. During a dark time in Charles' life when he was struggling with his sense of self preservation and the impact and effect of his life on others, I decided while conversing with him to probe him on his thoughts and feelings about his two older brothers.
"Tom would beat the Hell out of me it seemed almost every day while I was growing up. But he would always throw his arm around me and say, 'You know I love you little brother.' And I believed him. I never doubted that my brother Tom loved me." Good one on you Tom. I can see why you went into sales.
Then I asked Charles about his brother Dave. Charles said simply, "My brother David is a Superman. He has every reason to feel cheated. Every reason to just sit around and phone life in but watching him get up a go every day...it's an inspiration. He teaches me to play the had your dealt."
To William Plemmons:
Thank you for being the patriarch of such an extrordinary family. Charles always spoke of the kinship he and you had about flowers and plants and growing things. Clearly his father was a big influence on my friend's life.
Thank you also for taking the time to visit with and counsel the many many inmates of the Spartanburg County Jail, especially for the times you spent with members of my own family while they were being detained.
To Shelby Plemmons:
Mama Plemmons. I believe the first time we ever met was actually at a Dorman game with me and Charles at John L. Martin stadium. I imagine Charles will always be your baby. And as Matt has pointed out he will truly be forever young now, not aging with the rest of us. You were always so sweet and beloved by Charles...by Matt...by me....by everybody.
I can say sincerely without exaggeration that based on the many hundreds of conversations Charles and I had that he adored and respected you like no other. I do believe you were the gold standard for Charles all his young life. You gave him strength, compassion, love, tenderness, and joy. I believe those were the traits of motherhood that he wanted his own children to have and that's why he chose the wife he did.
I will miss my friend terribly. I hear people say things like, "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about...."
I used to have my doubts about something so profound that you couldn't go a day without thinking about it but such is the case with Charles. After 33 years of friendship there are so many day to day things that remind me of him. I can't imagine how difficult it will be to take in a new year of high school football without my buddy anymore. Part of me just wants to walk away from it with all the good memories left in tact. Part of me doesn't want to taint the memory of Dorman games by creating new memories of them absent Chuck.
But a wondrous thing has happened. I find myself as close as ever to Charles' family. Closer now than I ever was...almost as if by necessity.
During a session with a therapist recently, she asked, "So now what are you going to do now to keep the memory of your friend alive? How will you celebrate him and remember him?"
I think the answer would be, "by sharing fellowship with the family that loves him and accepts me."

[cavaliereagle]

Great write up Decav. It's obvious that not only was Chuck a great friend, but he also had a great friend. Keep the memories close in your heart and he's always there. May God bless you all.

[DeCav]

Thanks man. Posted it for a new friend who's sister just passed.
Met him on a RUSH fan site.
I appreciate you taking the time to read.
I'm sure I'll be able to visit down your way this season coming up.

[racincowboy02]

That was very beautifully written. THanks for sharing and I hope that you will continue to share and keep Chuck's memory alive you sir are a great friend and I am deeply sorry for your loss.

Now at the bottom of this well written piece you talk about walking away from Dorman football and I do hope that is not the case and if you are ever in Gaffney or want to watch a Gaffney game Ill be more than happy to buy your ticket and save you a seat

[DeCav]

You sir RC are a good friend also. We need to get you at an Eat 'N Greet. I think I may arrange one in the low country this summer. Maybe get some upstate posters to take the family to the beach for vacation and we can get together and tell some stories. I have a humdinger of a story to tell about the last 15 months of my life. Not all of it is bad. But a lot of it is. Maybe I'll write a book. Peace out bro! Thanks for the comment. Thanks to all of you for being great friends.

Not to worry though....we did continue the tradition of Dorman football last season.

Halfway through the season, DJ just got up and left the stadium. We could not figure out where he went. It wasn't until I texted my boy that I found out DJ called my son to come pick him up from the stadium. He told my boy it just wasn't the same. He didn't attend another regular season game.

BUT!

I think it was the second round of the playoffs DJ called me about going to see Dorman play and we sat through the wind and the rain to watch the Cavaliers again. Never thought when I signed up to be his Godfather I'd have to live up to the commitment. Wish me luck!

I am trying though. Bought him a new top of the line laptop for college last fall and just gave him a red Epiphone SG like Angus plays in the thunderstruck video because ACDC is his favorite band. The boy just like his dad has an ear for music. Couldn't ever get his dad to try playing guitar but now his boy has one and $250 worth of guitar lessons waiting for him from one of the best guitar players in Spartanburg just as soon as he finishes his exams.

Now I just gotta get this boy a girlfriend!

[cavaliereagle]

Avoid the girlfriend hunting at all cost! If you find her, it will be your fault when she uses him.

[DeCav]

Avoid the girlfriend hunting at all cost! If you find her, it will be your fault when she uses him.

Dude! That might be the wisest thing ever said on either board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cavaliereagle]

[racincowboy02]

I tell you what you do you buy him a race car then you dont ever have to worry about him getting into drugs girls or any other kind of trouble cause 1 he won't ever have any money to be able to afford the drugs or the girls and 2 once he straps in the car for the 1st time thats all he will ever want to do and he will be hooked from then on

[DeCav]

Yeah, the problem with that is we bought my boy a '91 Miata. He adores driving that thing and has already replaced the head gasket, suspension, clutch, shifter, and added a turbo kit.

Second week of school he had a girl ask him to take her for a ride in his car and they've been dating ever since. In retrospect where I went wrong was not buying him a "race car"...ie: something he couldn't take to school. No worries....the boy doesn't even have a job. His girlfriend does though.

So far things are going along swimmingly for these two.