Petey Esdy

Good morning on this fine Wednesday! Let me introduce you to my inconstant companion. Petey Esdy is not always with me. One morning I may go to the grocery store without the slightest problem, but on another Petey shows up and talks me out of going into the building. No, Monday is not a day Petey choses over any other. Sunday church services though are one of his favorites. It's possible that Petey is related to the Devil in some way, perhaps a distant cousin or some such. Petey likes a big crowd too, and that may explain his fondness for the church. I have not attended a concert or athletic event for many years because Petey has been known to clobber me a good one just for thinking about the mass of people at those places. Weddings are out, Petey likes nothing more than to remind me of loneliness in comparison to the happy couple. When it comes to a big celebration, Petey just isn't much fun to be around.

A funeral is not a celebration for the person named in the program, but the other people there try to make it one. With Petey consigned to the penalty box for the day, I drove to another town to attend the funeral of my friend Tanya. Twelve years since the accident, almost two since my company of twenty years eliminated my position and handed Petey a bigger club, but I thought that I had a good idea or two for dealing with my little buddy. Alas, Petey had a dart or two up his sleeve and as the funeral home's chapel filled with people, most of them seated behind me which I definitely don't like, I sounded the retreat and fled to the hallway. I guess you could say I attended the funeral, so many came to pay their respects to Tanya that I was not alone in that hallway, though I may have been the most comfortable attending from a little further back. Petey likes me to attend big gatherings from a step or two back, sometimes back completely outside the building. Petey took the time to remind me that Tanya died in an auto accident, that which pert near signed my ticket outta here! About six months later, I attended another funeral.

I knew only one or two persons at Tanya's funeral, we had gone our separate ways as young folks do in searching for a career or just a job we like, and more than twenty years passed in the blink of two decades. Ow, that's painful, remind me to whack Petey a good one for that. A coworker from my former workplace took his own life due to some very serious work and home issues that he tried to deal with at the same time. Petey was having a good time in those days. A funeral from an auto accident and then one from a suicide, I think I heard Petey laughing at me more than once. Anyway, at this funeral I knew nearly everyone. Many I had not seen in two years, position eliminated people become a bit shunned by those whose positions may be next in line for an execution. This is not intentional on their part, but it does seem to happen. Perhaps a superstitious dread that it may be a contagious thing, I can only guess. I had the most dreadful time at that funeral, but for a different reason, one that caught even ol' Petey by surprise I think. I wanted to go around shaking hands and giving hugs to the people I missed in my life, and yes, I suppose I found out that I love them that day. Unfortunately, smiles and hugs and 'good to see you again' is not generally what goes on at a funeral. Maybe we should change that. When I go, everyone come to my funeral to have a good time and see some old friends. Don't worry about what I think, I'll be gone! And I ain't taking Petey with me when I go to my home with Jesus.

I'll have to give Petey some credit though. He has shown me that I am not a misanthrope, or even a Ms. Anthrope. Petey, any more jokes like that and we will go a round a or two! I mean that I do love people, one or two or a few at a time. Any more peoples than that, and I feel the need to get outside and keep going. It may be a part of what I call situational claustrophobia, or the perception of being trapped in a situation. We'll get into that another time. Until then, if anyone wants to have Petey over for a while, feel free to let me know.

God's great blessings to you,
Bucky