Of Friendship, Patience, Courage & Hollow Points

Of Friendship, Patience, Courage & Hollow Points

OMG, what an evening at the side job. I've always said God has a plan & that everything happens for a reason & last night both tested & proved that for me as I believe I was EXACTLY who & where God intended for me to be & I'll NEVER doubt the strength & courage God will provide when you're willing to step up.

Clocked in & everyone was on pins & needles which is totally out of character for this bunch. Finally the bookkeeper lady came over to bring me up to speed on events of the day. One of MMS’ 4 primary owners had been screaming on his cell phone with his soon to be ex-wife most of the afternoon. They’ve been separated about 3 months & prepping for a divorce battle, which in MS is truly just that…a battle. In MS if EITHER party contests the divorce it can last months in court & cost into 6 figures just in legal & attorney fees but since the shop is technically carrying $2.5 million in capital debt these days she’s gotten past contesting anything. He’s been married to this gal for 16 years & she brought 2 little kids with her into the marriage. The daughter, now 20, has been a constant catalyst in the events leading up to the divorce, constantly pitting her mom against my pal & both of them against her biological dad who’s had next to nothing to do with her most of her life except when she’d stir things up, often with lies. Now at age 20, she’s got 2 little babies of her own from a boyfriend who wants nothing to do with her, outside of the bedroom, so my pal has been basically her dad & her baby’s dad too, the oldest being 18 months old. Drama queen step daughter yesterday threw some sort of tantrum with her mother severe enough that her mom was in the process of throwing her out of the house, babies & all, so while in her bedroom packing she decided to stir things up & posted on her Facebook wall some sort of garbage either about her biological dad or the baby daddy, not exactly sure, having in some manner molested her 18 month old baby causing all of this ruckus, totally unproven & supposedly completely unfounded. Well, news of this post somehow reached my pal who proceeded to call his soon to be ex to find out WTH was going on & things just escalated from there until the daughter locked herself in her room & OD’d on her mom’s nerve meds bringing, the sheriffs & EMTs followed shortly by Department of Health folks to remove the babies from the home since in MS grandparents have zero rights unless the parent gives up custody through formal adoption. Now pal knows drama queen’s patterns but still believes enough of the posting to have it in his mind that if nothing else one of those men has caused this entire mess & he’s decided it’s up to him to put a stop to this once & for all.

For years up North I taught hunter & firearms safety courses, tactical personal protection courses & concealed carry courses but last night was the first time I’ve ever faced a firearm first hand & unarmed no less, but in this case that was a good thing. I knew my pal was being controlled by rage & years of frustration but through the streaming tears of his pain & rage I could see the love of a dad & grandpa desperately seeking a solution & I just stood my ground, noticing the very distinctly recognizable serrated brass jackets of Remington’s .357 Magnum Golden Saber hollow points staring back at me. We spoke for what seemed an eternity of those babies not asking for any of this & eventually it boiled down to the divorce & horrible upbringing he’d endured as a child & the fact that he wasn’t standing by, watching his grandbabies go through it too. I was eventually able to get him to see the long term, which if this course of action continued  he would most likely never see those grandbabies again & if he did it’d either be through prison bars or visitation glass if ever at all.

That long barreled revolver is now safely locked in the bottom drawer of my tool box for safe keeping & the drama queen appears to be physically okay as they got her stomach pumped in time but the emotional scars of yesterday will last many people a lifetime.

If you’ve followed Griz’s roller coaster tale of the past year you know I’ve experienced many of my most euphoric moments of pure happiness in my life as well as a few of its darkest moments of emotional despair but last evening has added an entirely new perspective that things in fact could be MUCH worse in my life & have REALLY given me an entirely new & increased appreciation for all the good things I’ve experienced, many of which flashed through my mind last evening & continued to replay during a mostly sleepless night.

Still managed to hit Helga’s for a round of back, shoulders & biceps this AM leading into my typical Thursday marathon of day job meetings but one thing I can promise anyone who cares…life is WAY too short to live miserable & one way or another I intend to find a path to happiness REGARDLESS of where it leads.