There is a couple in Indiana who became very special to me during my recent stay there. Although my time with them was relatively short as relationships go, they remain special to this day. Al and Gretchen are special people and it shows in nearly everything they do.
I first became acquainted with Al when my friend Larry signed me in to a private club where Al was the manager. Al and I became nodding acquaintances at first, but I would listen as he and Larry would talk at the bar. After a month or so, Al mentioned that the man who vacuumed in the morning was laid up and there was no one to volunteer to take his place for a while. This club has in common with others of its type a problem with lots of members but very few volunteers when it comes to getting anything done. There is a small core of volunteers who regularly show up when needed, but they are few and far between and as it is always the same people it becomes easy for others to assume that things will be done whether they pitch in or not. At any rate, when the issue of no one to vacuum came up, I had my first real conversation with Al.
"I can run a vacuum, but I'm not a member here."
Al replied to the effect that I didn't need to be a member to volunteer. He simply said that he was usually there by eight in the morning and that if I showed up, it would be fine with him. Words of a man who has heard too many unfulfilled promises. That was my first lesson in dealing with Al. Don't tell him what you will do; simply show up and get it done. I was there the next morning and quite a few after that. It was not a difficult job and I was not doing anything in particular, living in a homeless shelter and looking for a paying job when I was able. During all this time, I would hang out with my friend Larry at the club in the evenings and we would occasionally see Gretchen and we became nodding acquaintances and that was about it, except for a few short conversations. I mostly spoke to Gretchen at the monthly steak dinners where I had begun to volunteer as a dishwasher with a couple of drinks and a steak dinner (paid for by Al and Gretchen) for pay.
One day, after I had finished vacuuming, while I was sitting at the bar, drinking a cup of coffee, Al came up from the office and sat down and we began to talk about this and that. Eventually, talk turned to Al's rental house where he had to evict the man who had been renting it. In the process of living there, the man had pretty much destroyed the place. On my initial visit to the place, there was petrified dog manure throughout the house. We began to call the place The Project.
It was not too long before I was vacuuming in the mornings and heading over to The Project immediately afterward. It also was not too long before Al learned that I told the truth when I told him I was cut out for lugging and hauling and not much else. He probably shudders to this day to even think of me with a paint brush or roller in my hand. But I did manage to lug and haul a whole bunch of stuff. Again, I was a volunteer, but working with Al was a great experience and that had a great deal to do with his management style. We would start our shifts at the project with him telling me what he hoped to accomplish that day. From there, it was pretty much up to me to determine where my capabilities lay and then to act on that determination. I remember his remarkable patience with me as I found the hard way to do things and proceeded to do them that way.
One day, Al asked what plans I had for after our shift at The Project. I told him that, as usual, I had no definite plans. He simply said, "Well, you're with me the rest of the day."
We finished for the day and then headed over to his house where we immediately had a drink out on the deck at his tiki bar. Gretchen soon came home from her job downtown and we had another drink. Then it was time for Al to cook steaks on the grill while Gretchen put the rest of dinner on in the kitchen. I ate like a king that night and many more after that at Al and Gretchen's. They both are accomplished cooks. As often as not, on nights when we did not eat at their house, they would take me to one of their favorite restaurants for dinner and drinks.
Eventually, around February, 2009, I got a part-time job as a teaching assistant at an adult education center in town. It was only three hours per day, but that knocked out my vacuuming. I was able to continue at The Project, however, and that had become very important to me. I was determined to see this thing through to the end. There were times when it seemed as though it never would end, as in the case of The Screwed Up Shower Door. Enough said about that, except I can get you a consultant for this kind of thing real quick. Just remember that a consultant is the guy who will borrow your watch to tell you what time it is and then tell you why you need a new watch. Eventually, The Project was finished and that was that.
Al and Gretchen had me over for dinner after all that and I continued to volunteer at club dinners when I was able. But I knew I had made friends for life. There were others involved in all this, but this is mainly about Al and Gretchen, even though I have spoken primarily about myself and my experiences with them. Al knew there was a right way and a wrong way to fix his damaged house and he got it done right. Looked nearly like new and a darn sight better than you would have thought possible. Gretchen is the same way in what she does which, incidentally, has a lot to do with those steak dinners and other functions at the club. Don't miss Gretchen's desserts or her prize-winning chili. Al does all the industrial shopping for these dinners, which is not part of his job as club manager. He just knows it will not get done if he does not do it. I have been on these trips with him. They are multi-stop, labor intensive trips that take up a good couple of hours. Then it all has to be put away. Al gets it done. Gretchen gets it done when it comes to the setting up of tables, cooking side dishes and desserts, serving and just being her gracious self.
I left Indiana last October and leaving these two was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I missed them as soon as I left them the night before when I told them goodbye and I miss them now. It is especially difficult now that I have found out Al has cancer in both lungs. There was an appreciation dinner for him yesterday at the club and when I first heard of it, my initial impulse was to jump on a bus and get there. I had the time and the money to get there and back. I had one other thing. Nearly six months of sobriety that I knew I would blow if I went there. I know Al and Gretchen will understand this.
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