a pirate looks at 40.....(45)

the photo above is douglas-keen hall. it is where dahbeed's oldest son dahbicito currently resides. it is located on the far end of the western kentucky university campus. dahbicito is a freshman at western.

dahbeed wrote a story that chronicled the day we moved him to campus. beed thought some of you that may have missed it might enjoy it. beed knows that any of you that have moved a child off to college will be damn sure be able to relate to it. beed honestly ain't just bein' lazy today.

one of beed's favorite writers on hilltoppah haven is a gentleman who goes by the name of shunpiker. he and beed have become pretty good friends. beed is also going to include shunpiker's response to beed's original story as it damn near had beed in tears. here goes:

a pirate looks at 40......(45)

beed has always loved that song but he done passed the 40, cinco years ago. all ya'll know that beed's oldest son is an incoming freshman at wku this year cuz beed done posted it several times. as beed said earlier, it didn't bother him when dahbicito turned 18 but it jacked him up when the little one graduated this spring.

today was another momentous milestone for the beed crew. beed, the esposa, dahbicito and miguelito packed up the nissan quest with all of dahbicito's belongings........clothes, t.v., laptop and x-box and headed for the hill. douglas keen hall to be exact. our crew rolled in there at 9:00 and there were already many peeps with their stuff on the sidewalk.

a couple of young students facilitating the event told us we could only unload quickly and then move our hoopties to egypt (for non western folks, not the egypt of the middle east, that would be insane, it is a nickname for a parking lot at western). we unloaded all of it, left the esposa to watch the gear and re-pahked the cahs.

it was already smokin hot outside. beed and dahbicito rolled up to preston and signed up for master plan......oops, another 125 bucks, thank u very much.

so far western has been able to separate beed from his dinero at a rapid pace. anyhoo, beed somewhere in the process lost his damn car keys......no pockets on his fly ass western kentucky basketball shorts. beed had tucked them in his waistband and they fell out somewhere. beed goes to the front desk.....anybody turn in some keys? nope. went back to preston and axed the same question. nope. so the beed crew went back and carried everything up to dahbicito's room.

his roomate had not arrived yet. dahbicito started working on hooking up his electronics gear. beed started working on dahbicito's clothes. the esposa started in on making the bed. it was a well oiled machine folks. we left campus for the casa by 11:15. by the time we got the room finished someone had turned in the keys to the front desk at keen. dahbicito followed us home cuz he had forgotten a few items.....cable for the t.v., some cat 5 cables for his laptop and x-box and his printer.

he's ready to leave the house and beed says "come here boy, give your daddy a hug" we hug and beed tells him how much he loves him and how proud of him he is and that he knows he will make the right decisions. miguelito gives him a hug and tells him he loves him. (he promptly took over dahbicitos room but is already missing his big brother) miguelito really looks up to his big brother and beed has told dahbicito that one of the reasons he has to do right is that he has to set an example for little bro.

then it is time for him to hug his mama and she starts squirtin and warning him about all of the evils out there......drugs, liquor, and worst of all GIRLS. actually beed had an earlier conversation with dahbicito and told him about the road he was about to embark upon and all of the great things there were at college.....drugs, liqour and GIRLS. just kiddin' folks. dahbicito is 18 and a good kid. u got to turn loose of them at some stage and the esposa is havin' a bit of a struggle wit that.

he's already called the house 3 times since he got back on campus. he's bought his books and met his roomate and his parents. beed is enjoying the hell out of this. he wanted to room with a buddy but his friends parents won't let him in the dorms first semester so dahbicito got the randomly picked roommate.

dahbicito almost backed out of going to the dorms because of this but beed told him to look at it as an adventure. heck, this guy could end up becoming your best friend. could be the best man in your wedding. of course he could turn out like the jim carey character in "the cable guy"

anyhoo, this wuz a big day for beed. he hasn't cried.........yet. so this pirate takes a look at 45 and thanks the good Lord for everything he has been blessed with. beed will keep ya'll up on the college experience from the beed casa.

shunpiker's response

The cannons don't thunder

There's nothing to plunder

I'm an over 40 victim of fate

Well, I'm not 40 yet, but it is approaching too quickly. I still have eight months of my thirties left.

Dang, beed, I almost cried while reading your post.

I thought back to my first day at WKU in 1984. My father and I packed everything I owned into the trunk of his Oldsmobile and trucked down I-65 south to Bowling Green. My life was forever altered from the moment we pulled away from our old house in Louisville.

What makes me sad is that dad was relatively a young man that day he dropped me off at Barnes Campbell Hall. I can still see him sitting on my dorm room bed in his suit and tie (always a snazzy dresser) and his black hair slicked back like he was some sort of gangster. I've always been close to my father, and now that ham handed, black headed man of 1984 has a head full of gray hair and slight tremble in his fingers. I'm the one in charge when we do things together. Your post made the 21 years between then and now evaporate.

I'll never forget that day and the excitement and fear I felt as I watched dad cruise that Olds out of the parking lot. Sometimes I wish I could rekindle that combination of feelings.

This weekend at the State Fair I talked to several incoming freshman on The Hill. I enjoyed listening to their perspective on starting school at Western. The cycle of life that Western has is truly amazing. I'm sure it's not unique, but I don't care about any other college. I enjoy watching and listen to that cycle unfold at Western. For a time this weekend, while talking to current and future Western students, I was a part of that cycle -- a middle-aged alumni swapping advice and stories with school's future.

It's funny to think that my cycle with Western started on a November? December? night in 1978 when my brother snuck me into Western's basketball game against Duke.