When a friend comes along
Sometimes,
when you're really in a pinch, a friend comes along and reminds you why you made them a friend in the first place. Such is the case for me and a fellow named Gary Cravens.
Gary, you see, was my best friend in high school. And to this day, I think you'd have to search far and wide to find a better friend.
Although its been almost 40 years since we graduated from high school and our lives took us in very different and farreaching paths, we've remained friends — good friends.
I guess I didn't realize how good a friends we'd become until the last few months when I was injured in an automobile accident and was transferred to hospitals in Dallas.
In fact, it wasn't until I came out of the coma and had my brother Mark explain that of all the people who'd sent their best wishes and were praying for me, the only people, except family, that had religiously visited me — even when I was "out of it" — were Gary and his girlfriend, Ann.
When I did come to, it was great to see them. You see, Gary and Ann were high school sweethearts who had married other people and were either divorced or widowed. They ran into each other at our 35-year high school class reunion and very quickly became an "item" again.
Anyway, I was sitting here this week thinking to myself that I couldn't think of something to write this column about when an received an e-mail from Ann telling me she and Gary thought I'd like to hear a story and wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving.
It couldn't have come at a better time. I was kind of down at the time, feeling lonely and alone, and their e-mail brought a smile to my face and reminded me of just how blessed I am to have friends like them.
I wound up thinking I need to share the story, so here goes...
A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up” the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.
John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly open the door to the freezer, the parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arm and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.
As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, "May I ask what did the turkey do?”
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Bless you all.
Editor’s note: This column first appeared in the Herald Nov. 25, 2009. It was written by former Managing Editor John Moseley who had been with the Herald since 1993. He passed away in 2017. He had a goofy sense of humor (I swear he knew every Aggie joke ever written) and a boisterous laugh. Most of all, he was a good friend.