Finding Friends

You never know when or where you will meet good friends. I went to Overland Park, Kansas years ago for the Railroad to be re-certified on my engineers license. I didn’t know anyone in my class because my two engineer friends from home were in a different class. The first day of class the instructor spent some time introducing himself and then went around the room to ask everyone to tell the class their name and a little about themselves. When he came to my classmate who soon became my friend the instructor asked him the general questions. My friend said he was on the Railroad for a certain number of years and he worked out of Birmingham, Alabama. He said his friends all called him Billy. The instructor asked innocently if that is what he the instructor should call him? Billy said no you can call me Mr. C…. Dead silence in the room, but from then on this character became a friend of mine. I never will forget the chuckle I had that day.

Me in the lower right and my friend Billy in the upper right..Both a bit younger and more hair….

Years later when one of my boys played for the NAIA national football championship in Savannnah, Tennessee we tried to hook up with my friend Billy, but wouldn’t you know it he was out on a run when we went through Birmingham. Typical Railroad life.

We kinda lost track of one another for awhile and then have been in contact with one another again recently. This fine southern gentleman who now I guess besides being called Billy is “Big Daddy” is still pulling the levers on a locomotive and is still up and down the rails. Good friends are where you find them, even in Overland Park, Kansas when the North and South met in the middle.