This writing thing is more fun than I imagined it would be. I have decided that in sharing the stories about my relationships with people that have greatly impacted my life, I want to share some funny stories mixed in with the ones that I hope challenge you. These are true stories that are funny (now), but at the time could have carried serious consequence.

Here is the first one to bring a laugh to your day.

In November of 2004 Traci and I lived in Lakeland, Florida while we attended a University there. We had recently found out that Traci was pregnant and decided to visit family during the break from classes for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Whenever we were in town, we made sure to hangout with a small group of friends. On the day after Thanksgiving, I went out with two of these guys I had skated with for decades to a new local park that was kind of out in the country. I believe it was this same day that myself and these two  friends were referred to as “the old guys” while we were at this skatepark. We stayed and skated for an hour or two I think then headed back to our wives. One of my friends had a daughter already and 2 of us had pregnant wives at home. 

As we drove down this country road headed back to our wives, we pulled up to a stoplight and as the driver and I continued our conversation our friend in the back seat said, “you guys should have seen that ladies face,” as he was laughing. The two of us that were riding up front were confused and asked what he was talking about. He pushed a small, spray-painted, theater prop, shiny- toy gun between the two front seats and said “I pointed this out the window at the ladies in the car next to us…”

Our friend that was driving started to speed up in an effort to get us out of town faster than initially planned. As we raced down this back country road trying to get away from what our friend had just done, a local deputy passed us going the opposite direction. We saw his face light up as he noticed our vehicle. I am sure he was listening to the description of our getaway car being called out to all patrol cars in the area and he was about to be the hero. 

I have never seen a car change directions so fast! 

We decided in this situation that running/speeding excessively wasn’t going to work out well for us. We pulled over because his patrol car was much faster than the minivan-turned-delivery-van we were driving.

When the deputy approached, it was obvious he thought he was dealing with some heavily armed, hardened criminals, but all he really had was three skateboards, three, old (mid 20’s), married dudes; one of which had just had a terrible lapse in judgment. 

After the initial, “friendly,” greetings from the deputy, we were all three invited to step out of the car, empty our pockets, and assume the position (hands on the hood) while a second deputy, who arrived soon after the first, searched the car and found the shiny toy gun. 

We were informed that our friend (and maybe the other two of us) could be on the way to jail and charged with felony menacing. When the sheriff walked away to check our records, the two of us that were up front during this situation – the innocents – were making plans to murder the 3rd friend that was perhaps going to land us in jail. 

When it was discovered that none of us were wanted, our (toy) gun-pointing-friend was able to explain the error of his decision, explain that it was a joke,  and apologize profusely and for some unknown cosmic reason, the deputy and I’m guessing the terrified lady decided NOT to press any charges. Phew. 

Our (toy) gun-pointing-friend was instructed to destroy the gun on the side of the road, stomping it to pieces, while the deputy watched before we could leave. 

I still hang out with these two guys anytime I’m back in Winston-Salem, only now we are all completely mature adults that make good decisions because we all have teenage kids now.