A Sharp Stick In The Eye: Mike at 56

Mike at Hermanos 2015

Today, April 13^th, is Mike's birthday! He does not seem any older, and then again, he seems to have aged a whole bunch since hanging around with me! Oh well.

Looking good for the hunt! 2010

Emceeing at Storytelling

What story or memory can I write down for Mike's birthday? There's the one about the time Mittens brought a live rodent into the house which took up residence for the next few months. I'll save that for another day. Or the time his truck would not start – that's the story I always have ready to tell should an event be short of tellers some evening. There is the year we were at the company Christmas party and had neglected to discuss ahead of time the designated driver, and we each got a separate ride home that night. Of course, there was Mike's fiftieth birthday where we had a big party at the house – his sisters came from Alabama and Florida – and there were oysters and kegs of beer and the oysters were gone long before the beer – a week later, Mike was still trying valiantly to empty the kegs, but alas, we sacrificed some to the backyard.

where's the beer?

One thing that stands out most of all about Mike is how supportive he has been with my pursuit of storytelling. In fact he has dived in and has become a gifted teller himself! Mike often talks of Brantley, Alabama, and he paints a picture such that we can see Main Street and the shelves in the hardware store, and the human touch he puts on all the people in town – making us want to know more!

And he is so danged cute! I can post info on facebook about upcoming storytelling events, and I can be clever, full of puns, poetic, sometimes bordering on shocking – just to get folks' attention – and the post gets no attention at all. BUT if I post just one picture of Mike – usually any picture of him with a glass of beer at any bar – I swear, people start clicking the like button, and it continues for days!