Save The Day

I don't remember much of my first day on the new job .. other than I had my own office .. and was taken on a tour of the industrial site ... the first thing I noticed was that the construction workers had a bar set-up in one of the uncompleted process towers ... par for the course as Iwas to learn over the next few months ..

I worked for operations .. our job was to assist in commissioning the new construction and then write the operating procedures for it's start-up and operation. Usually a fresh graduate works under a seasoned engineer for a few months before taking on individual responsibility .. not so here .. I was given responsibility for water treatment .. the front end of the process .. again .. sort of a harbinger of things to come for the whole enterprise ...

My apartment wouldn't be available for a month or so so I was staying in a motel .. I would eat out somewhere .. come back and play guitar ... and watch a bit of tv .. have a beer or two .. I didn't know anybody ... then one night as I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep .. a knock at the door .. it was Jim Maxwell ... he had joined as part of a contingent that had come from out west ... he wanted to know if I wanted to go out for a drink .. and thus began a short lived friendship that was the beginning of me starting to get my life back together ...

Jim was articulate .. funny .. loved music .. loved to party ... and loved to talk ... I was born to listen and party .. and loved music ... for the next two or three months we tore it up in the local area ... I remember one night sleeping in the trunk of Jim's car ... he had a rented trailer .. we would listen to music .. drink  .. and then head out to god knows where ... 

One night a co-worker arranged a blind date for both Jim and I .. and that was the night he met his future wife Worna ... I was still too much in my head to consider dating ... so I drank the night away ... somewhere in this period I had met a woman and was dating her .. I have no remembrance of how we met .. Jim was quite enamoured with her ... one night she and I had been partying at the Legion of all places .. I was driving ... and this was at a time when drinking and driving was common ... and I shudder today to think of this ... I got stopped by the police .. the officer asked me why I hadn't dimmed my lights for several oncoming cars .. I said I was distracted by the woman beside me ... he said where are you going .. I said right home .. he said .. you drive straight there .. no stops .. no detours ... nothing .. I don't remember how that relationship ended ... or that evening for that matter ... 

When Jim and Worna became a couple ... I really didn't see much of him again .. but the young female librarian at work asked me to join her and her friends as they were going to  a local club for music and a night out ... this would be my entry into one of the best periods of my life at that time ...

I re-established contact with Jim about 6 or 7 years ago .. and we would email back and forth from time to time .. then the emails stopped ... I checked recently and Jim passed away about 4 years ago now ... not long after our last email exchange ... I have never forgotten his friendship .. his laugh ... and how he unknowingly saved me from myself ... RIP Jim ... I will never forget ... 

Phil (12 January 2021 - San Patricio de Melaque - 7:58 PM)

Krome Koan - 'Always remember that you are unique; just like everyone else'