DENNIS
Early this month, my son went to watch the races at the local red neck form of a sports grill. The people who go there aren’t just rednecks, they’re 100% purebred “River Rats.” I was visiting my son and knowing it wasn’t the kind of place I should be going, I hopped in my car anyway just so I could be with him. A small group was gathered outside the building, listening to a young man sing and play his guitar. Dennis was grossly overweight and some were laughing at him because of how he was hanging out of his clothes. After listening to him a while, I asked him if he could sing “Mustang Sally”. He happily sang the song for me and you couldn’t help but notice that he had a beautiful voice. I also noticed he was extremely drunk. When the “place” refused to serve him another beer, he became very disgusted. He began to walk up the road to his cabin. For some strange reason I felt drawn to him. I felt very strongly I needed to talk to him about the Lord. I asked if I could walk part of the way with him, but I was rebuked by family that you just don’t do that with those kinds of people. I saw no danger, because it was still daylight and there were plenty of people outside the other cabins along the road. Yet I heeded their advice. The next week I went back again with my son and Dennis was there again, sitting on a picnic table singing along with another lady. I enjoyed another jam session while my son watched the races. As I left that evening and walked toward my car, I looked back and waved bye to Dennis. He just smiled and waved back.
Dennis died last week.
Early this month, my son went to watch the races at the local red neck form of a sports grill. The people who go there aren’t just rednecks, they’re 100% purebred “River Rats.” I was visiting my son and knowing it wasn’t the kind of place I should be going, I hopped in my car anyway just so I could be with him. A small group was gathered outside the building, listening to a young man sing and play his guitar. Dennis was grossly overweight and some were laughing at him because of how he was hanging out of his clothes. After listening to him a while, I asked him if he could sing “Mustang Sally”. He happily sang the song for me and you couldn’t help but notice that he had a beautiful voice. I also noticed he was extremely drunk. When the “place” refused to serve him another beer, he became very disgusted. He began to walk up the road to his cabin. For some strange reason I felt drawn to him. I felt very strongly I needed to talk to him about the Lord. I asked if I could walk part of the way with him, but I was rebuked by family that you just don’t do that with those kinds of people. I saw no danger, because it was still daylight and there were plenty of people outside the other cabins along the road. Yet I heeded their advice. The next week I went back again with my son and Dennis was there again, sitting on a picnic table singing along with another lady. I enjoyed another jam session while my son watched the races. As I left that evening and walked toward my car, I looked back and waved bye to Dennis. He just smiled and waved back.
Dennis died last week.
posted by MindBloggling | 5:17 AM
2 Comments:
That is sad!
I was outside your building yesterday, actually passed by while at work!
Remember it is never wrong to be kind to a person. Just because Dennis liked a cold Bud was not a reason for you not to talk to him.
Think of the opportunity that you missed. You could have bought him a long neck Bud, got yourself a Corona with lime and sat with him and talked. Explained that wine was as good for you as beer, almost as good a a margarita. Then compared the qualities of all.
Once you got to talking you could have eased into talking about dancing or anything else that might have came to mind.
It is sad that he passed and you will never have the opportunity to listen to him again. Once opportunity passes it will very seldom return.
;-)
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