WHAT A WONDERFUL EVENING IN NIRVANA!

Observation of the Day!

Last evening was a most wonderful evening for me. Paul Payne, my best Coronado friend, held a dinner party at a very fine Coronado Italian restaurant. There were fourteen people invited. They were all golfing buddies and wives. The occasion was to celebrate the sale of Paul's Mexican business. As his golfing partners, we were all subject to Paul's whoa is me and moans about the sale of his business. He got less sympathy from Ingrid. This was payback for our patience. He really didn't have to do this payback because we all enjoyed the needles we placed in his body, whenever the subject came up.

I was honored to be included. I love my golfing life and golfing friends. I am so proud of being accepted as a part of the group, even though to date I am only here five months a year. I love my life in Coronado.

I arrived on time at the appointed hour of six o'clock to find that eleven were already seated and on their first drink. I was surprised, but should have known that old people eat early and on time. I guess going to the bank and driving around the block to kill time so I wouldn't arrive too early cost me an early drink.

Since I was a single, my "date" was my wonderful friend John McKinney. John is truly a hero to us all. He won the Navy Cross for sinking a Japanese carrier in WWII. He tells of flying high, waiting for the order to dive bomb the target. He remembers being just above the flack and thinking that in a few minutes he would be diving through it. He was 22.

John actually survived two other close calls. He was in a hotel fire in Atlanta and fell out of the window, saved by the pile of bodies, some of them his buddies from a perty that he was to attend on the thirteenth floor. He also survived being in the back seat of a car that skidded backward into a river in Lousiana. I believe his pilot training saved his life. John has been blessed. He is not well, but still has lunch at the golf course a couple of times a week. He has trouble remembering even his last bit of conversation. The fun is that he gets a special twinkle in his eye as he laughs about his difficulty in remembering. He is a hero and a wondeful man. God bless John McKinney.

The food and company made for a wonderful evening, an evening to remember. Thanks Paul for bringing us together.

Have a wonderful day and go Cardinals.

Sam