Remembering Cliff

I was up just after 530am doing my exercises and preparing for another Friday. Once again, it was cloudy and reasonably warm, about 63 degrees. This made the 6th cloudy day in a row, although we did get a slight reprieve late last Wednesday afternoon. As sunny as the first three weeks of September were, this last one has been the polar opposite. After walking Ykraps I woke Mindy with a cup of steaming hot coffee. She was most appreciative. Then, after a little playtime on the PC, I split ten minutes between meditation and stretching. At 6:40am I headed out the door for my morning run. Because it was so cloudy, it was stayed pretty dark for the first three miles. Only during the last mile did the sky finally brighten. Upon my return, Mindy had breakfast ready like usual. She was out the door for work by 7:30am, and I was off to the shower. Bella was at my bedroom door around 7:50am attempting to rush me along. Both kids are very good about being punctual. More often than not, they’re at the bus stop a minute or two ahead of me. Friday was no different. Kenny & I had loosely discussed the possibility of golfing on Saturday morning before the Buckeye game, but with Mindy’s yoga class and a 70% chance of rain, we nixed that idea. And besides, I already had plans to golf Sunday in the Weese memorial golf outing, although that’s a scramble. Off to work. Friday was a very busy day. I was the lone manager in the office for the better part of the day making for some really tough sledding. Thankfully, I survived. I really wanted to slip away for lunch but never did – couldn’t. One thing lead to another and soon the day was all but over. I talked with Mindy around 4:30pm. She was already on her way to the grocery store and left the kids with Kenny. At the time I thought that I might escape work at 5pm, but that never materialized. I finally wrapped up my work day and week and left for home just before 530pm. The house was quiet. I could see the kids out back playing football with Kenny. I quickly unloaded my work gear and leashed up Ykraps and headed out for his evening walk. I was happy to have the work week behind me and the weekend ahead. I was working on the PC when Mindy got home from the grocery. I expected her to be gone longer. She shared that her Wal-Mart experience went smoother than usual thanks in part to no lines at the check-out – a rarity indeed. While carrying in groceries, we discussed dinner plans, which I already knew included a trip to Barley’s with the kids. We planned to head out around 7pm. We haven’t been there for two weeks, or since my b-day party. I had the itch! We readied and left as planned just before 7pm. Judging by the parking lot, there didn’t appear to be much of a crowd, but sometimes that’s misleading – both ways. This night, however, it was telling. The bar was only about half occupied. Because we had the kids along, we asked for a table. It was some time before I actually sat down. Instead, I chatted with Scott & Steve and had Beth pour me my first beer, a Southern Tier, PumKing. It came highly recommended from trusted, seasoned beer drinkers. I was surprised to see it served in a sniffer, meaning high alcohol content. The taste was deceptive and fruity. It tastes like a combination of bazooka bubblegum and pumpkin pie. My buds warmed to it but I also knew I wouldn’t order a second. Instead, I’d order a Centennial next. However, before there would be any more beer, we had to order our dinner. Before heading to our table, Calvin, another Barley’s regular, informed Mindy that our pal Cliff passed away suddenly last week. As I understand it, he dropped dead from a brain aneurism while entering his house. And just like that he was gone. Cliff was a very intriguing character – a professor of veterinary medicine at OSU, who took frequent trips to Rwanda, Africa in an effort to help educate the locals on growing crops. He had many other outside interests as well. Mindy & I both found him fascinating. The world lost a good one. Very sobering news. Apparently a wake was held at Barley’s in his honor last week. Finally seated at our table, Justin stopped by to take our food orders. Mindy ordered pork chops. I ordered Gate of Hell wings, and so did Jacob. Bella ordered a kids Barley cheeseburger. Jacob also ordered a basket of onion straws. It took about 20 minutes for our food to arrive. By then the kids were growing impatient. The wait was worth it. The food was terrific, or at least mine was. And despite Mindy warning me against ordering the wings extra-well done, they were delicious. Somewhere mid-food, I ordered that second beer, a Centennial IPA. Mindy asked that I pick-up the check. I did, and also tipped our server well. We left for home by 9pm intending to pay a visit to the neighbors once there. Mindy gave them a call as soon as we got in the door. They welcomed us down despite Chrissy having a rather invasive out-patient procedure hours earlier. We hung out with the neighbors long enough for me to drink the two Sam Adams I brought from home. While there, we watched America’s Funniest Home Videos ‘Best Ever’ show from Disney World. Very entertaining. We headed for home around 11pm and headed directly to bed.