Tales from the Drifter
I feel like such a drifter these days. I love it. I’ve put over 7,500 miles under my belt in the last 30 days, crisscrossing the country in my car, experiencing America. Or parts of it.
This last weekend was a lot of fun. Thursday night I had a meeting in Orlando with a (potential) vendor for Hoozie. I was nervous about it. But it all turned out really well, and I think we’ll be doing some business this year.
My cousin got married in Gulf Shores, Alabama this weekend. It’s always great when the extended family gets together. I have a lot of fun hanging with my parents and their siblings. This weekend I bunked with Uncle Jimmy. He made me take the top bunk. What’s funny about that situation is that he’s the CEO of a massive law firm with 900 employees, and we were sharing bunk beds like middle school brothers. BTW, he’s a “lights out talker”. You know exactly what I’m talking about too. We jumped in the Gulf of Mexico (in January). We’re men.
Between Orlando and Gulf Shores I went to my friend Charles Martin’s house in Jacksonville and spent the night there. For those of you who don’t know who he is, please get acquainted here.
I’m a huge book worm. And Charles is my favorite author. He and I have become pretty good friends, and he told me to come crash at his place instead of doing the hotel thing in Orlando. I was happy to oblige.
I’d never met his family before, so this was our first introduction. And I’m here to tell you that they are some of the coolest people I’ve ever met. His wife is very classy and down to earth at the same time. I feel like we could have sat around sipping Manhattans OR Pabst Blue Ribbon and either would have felt appropriate. As it was we all share a passion for coffee, and coffee won the day. She’s an amazing cook too. For real. I stuffed my face.
Charles and his wife have 3 boys. I want to hang out with these guys more. They are unlike most young men you’ll ever come across. The oldest is 14, the youngest is 8 (I think). They all play piano (VERY WELL), and it was a pleasure to hear them throw down on it. All 3 of them are awesome. Rives, the youngest, reminds me of myself. He’s the youngest brother, and has “youngest brother” written all over him. You can just look at him and see the wheels turning in his head, plotting the next move. The youngest siblings tend to be the best survivors because they have to make the most out of being the youngest, smallest, and (physically) weakest. John T., the middle brother, is already a brilliant piano player and artist. I watched with my jaw dropped, while he played me some jazz on the piano. He also showed me his latest art piece and it blew my mind. And Charlie is the spitting image of his dad. He’s a talented pianist, very athletic (from what I’m told), and a strapping young man. If all people had the manners and respect for others that these boys have, the world would be a changed place. They are, at the same time, exactly what boys should be (i.e. rowdy, funny, energetic), yet articulate, respectful, and engaging in conversation. I’d wanna hang out with them all the time if we lived closer together. Maybe start a Bible study or mentoring group or something. Although they would probably end up mentoring me… :)
In true form, Charles wouldn’t let me in the house unless I brought my guitar. That was actually said to me. ”Bring you’re guitar. You ain’t getting in the house without it.” So the next morning, the entire Martin family and I sat in the den and I played one of my favorite shows to date. Albeit it was early in the day, and my voice doesn’t work so well until later in the day :) But they were one of the better audiences I’ve had in that they listened intently, asked questions after each song, and Charles even sang along to some of the ones he knew. It kinda made my day.
Oh… one other thing. Charles does something called “Fight Fit”. It’s basically 30 minutes of intense exercise, mixed in with boxing gloves and a giant punching bag. Long story short, he dragged me along to the class the morning I was at his house, and the next morning in Alabama I was scared of venturing out of the top bunk for risk of complete muscular shutdown and crashing onto the floor below. My body is still sore, 3 days later, and I’m plotting my revenge…
Hypothetically speaking, had Charles given me a copy of his new book he is releasing in April, I definitely wouldn’t blog about it. But HAD he given me a copy of it, hypothetically of course, I would probably be about a third of the way through it and completely engrossed in it. And if I had (hypothetically) received this book, I wouldn’t let anyone else see it because that would violate the trust he put in me by letting me have it early. So don’t ask, because I definitely wouldn’t budge on that one, had that (hypothetically) happened… :)
You should go “like” his Facebook page. He puts video blogs up and keeps everyone in the loop on the goings-on of his life, work, etc. You can find his Facebook page HERE.
