You So Cal owners, if you have never been to Jalama Beach, it's a great destination, driving up the Coast to where Hwy 101 curves inland, exit 101 onto Hwy 1 to Lompoc, then left at the 15 mile marker onto 15 miles of wonderful curvy asphalt to the ocean. Theres a small camp store that sells the world famous "Jalama Burger" (their ad copy, not mine). It costs $6 for a day pass. I've been asked to bring so much camping gear that it won't fit in the Pantera, so I'm taking the Taurus this time.
Ron's story about the patient being admitted into the emergency room had me thinking today, so instead of a joke, I wanted to share something more inspirational.
The first home I purchased as a young man was located in Long Beach Calif. At the time I was working in the port city of Wilmington, at an electric generating station. Daily I drove Pacific Coast Highway in the morning on my way to work, through some tough parts of the city.
On my commute each morning I would pass a man, not much older than myself, who was missing his body below the waist. He was commuting to work like myself, his torso sitting upright upon a piece of plywood with 4 wheels. He had a wooden block in one hand, padded with carpeting, and his lunch pail in his other hand. He would use the lunch pail & the wooden block, rowing with his arms, to push himself along the side of the highway, between traffic & the parked cars. He wasn't feeling sorry for himself, he wasn't sitting in a wheel chair at a traffic stop with a sign asking for donations. He was going to work, just like me. On a piece of plywood, in traffic, on Pacific Coast Highway.
When ever I think I've got it tough, I think of that guy. He'll never know how much he has inspired me, and no doubt many other commuters on Pacific Coast Highway.
Just like that man, I'll never know how many lives my life has "touched". My life long challenge to myself has been to be as equally inspirational, or at least a positive influence, in the lives around me.
your friend on the PIBB, George
