FALLING FAR FROM THE TREE
The other day a subscriber from Belton, George Reyes, stopped by to renew his subscription with his two cute grandchildren. As soon as they came in the door, they both made a beeline to Mavis the office cat.
Mr. Reyes said, “Oh Lord. She’s going to want to take that kitty with her.”
Turns out she also has a black and white tuxedo kitty.
Then the kids found our other office kitty, Cinder, and you’d have thought they had died and gone to heaven. They chased those cats all over the office and had a great time.
When Mr. Reyes was ready to leave, his grandchildren were not.
The little boy sat down at one of the desks and got on the phone because he said he wanted to call someone. Guess who he called? 911. So Rockdale’s Finest called us right back to make sure there was no emergency.
And I had to laugh because when I first started my new job at Castle Biosciences in Friendswood selling melanoma tests, I was dialing dermatologists in New York City. One of their area codes is 917 but I accidentally dialed 911. I realized what I had done and immediately hung up, but first Friendswood responded back asking if I had an emergency. I told them no. I had just dialed the wrong area code.
But they suspected I was being coerced into saying that, so they showed up at the office a minute later to make sure no one was holding a gun to my head.
Mind you, this was my first week of work. Way to make a good first impression.
—kwc— A reporter is supposed to go out and get the news but not be involved in it, right? Sometimes I just can’t help myself.
On Saturday I got photos of the MARC Ride at the MARC instead of at The Ranch, which was suggested by organizer Charles Starr.
For those of you who don’t know, the MARC is a place where people who have Down’s Syndrome and other differently-abled citizens go each weekday to learn, do projects and have fun. The MARC Ride supplies the largest amount of money of any organization to keep the center running. This has been going on for 22 years and they have raised lots of money during that time.
The MARC consumers were all standing outside in their matching t-shirts holding signs for all the motorcycle riders who were coming soon. They could be heard in the distance, and all were super excited.
As the bikes started to turn down Pecos, they all started cheering and waving. I don’t know anything about motorcycles, but they can evidently be made to sound louder than normal which is exactly what they did.
What an experience! The consumers were all so joyful.
I was steadily taking pictures, but I was also tearing up. It was a special moment. I could barely speak but managed to say to MARC board member Rey Mata, who saw me with tears in my eyes, “I’m not cut out for this job.” He also had tears in his eyes and couldn’t speak. I felt the solidarity.
If you ever have a chance to go to the MARC on MARC Ride day, do your heart a favor and go. —kwc— A few special thank yous for more MARC Ride volunteers.
Paul Johnson and friends of the MARC made the beans, potato salad and coleslaw.
Alpha Tau Delta provided desserts.
Lee Lee Parsley and Lee’s Landing provided the iced tea.
Kathy Quinney cooked the meat, Victor and Vicky Svetlik made the sausage, Boyd Taylor and Ron Montgomery cooked the sausage and the KCs cut the brisket and sausage. “It took a village to get it all done,” said Ann King, MARC board president.
Rockdale thanks you all.
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