The Extra Mile
Listening to Aunt Marys life advice. Plus: David Lee Roth, Man of the Year.
by Tom Gogola - December 30, 2004
MIKE SHEVELKIN
Me and Aunt Mary were sitting in the rental car, waiting for my train, talking family stuff. "Go the extra mile," she says to me, in answer to a question I'd raised about being a better fambly man. "This is the year for you to go the extra mile."
Aunt Mary is a born-again Christian, but not of the moralizing, anti-gay variety. She likes her riverboat casinos as much as she likes the occasional snort of Blackhaus, but she's still my elder--gets upset whenever I curse, stuff like that. Even still, Mary Virginia's my friend, and we can joke around like friends do.
"You should become a preacher," I tell her. "I hear the money is real good."
We've had our ups and downs over the years, but I was happy to spring for Aunt Mary's airfare and car rental so she could come up from Louisiana for the holidays. You do what you can, when you can. It's the extra mile. It's a fine idea.
Fishing Report Person of the Year Award
Every year around this time the chattering classes start making book on who's going to be Time magazine's Person of the Year; bets are made, dark horses are cited, columnists make suggestions on how Time can shake things up, do something surprising. And then, when the blessed day arrives, the magazine generally comes up with the least objectionable, most obvious person of all to put on its cover. No surprise, then, that it was George W. Bush this year. No surprise, either, that Osama bin Laden, despite obvious qualifications, did not make the cut in 2001.
What about David Lee Roth, former Van Halen frontman? Diamond Dave was a hero of mine back when I was in high school, but now that he's an emergency medical technician on an ambulance crew in the Bronx, he's an even bigger one. As far as I'm concerned, Dave's is the feel-good story of the year. He even helped save a woman's life. My God, can you imagine what it must be like to have David Lee Roth shock you with his paddles?
Dave, you've gone the extra mile. Congratulations--You're the Fishing Report Person of the Year!
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Listening to Aunt Marys life advice. Plus: David Lee Roth, Man of the Year.
by Tom Gogola - December 30, 2004
MIKE SHEVELKIN
Me and Aunt Mary were sitting in the rental car, waiting for my train, talking family stuff. "Go the extra mile," she says to me, in answer to a question I'd raised about being a better fambly man. "This is the year for you to go the extra mile."
Aunt Mary is a born-again Christian, but not of the moralizing, anti-gay variety. She likes her riverboat casinos as much as she likes the occasional snort of Blackhaus, but she's still my elder--gets upset whenever I curse, stuff like that. Even still, Mary Virginia's my friend, and we can joke around like friends do.
"You should become a preacher," I tell her. "I hear the money is real good."
We've had our ups and downs over the years, but I was happy to spring for Aunt Mary's airfare and car rental so she could come up from Louisiana for the holidays. You do what you can, when you can. It's the extra mile. It's a fine idea.
Fishing Report Person of the Year Award
Every year around this time the chattering classes start making book on who's going to be Time magazine's Person of the Year; bets are made, dark horses are cited, columnists make suggestions on how Time can shake things up, do something surprising. And then, when the blessed day arrives, the magazine generally comes up with the least objectionable, most obvious person of all to put on its cover. No surprise, then, that it was George W. Bush this year. No surprise, either, that Osama bin Laden, despite obvious qualifications, did not make the cut in 2001.
What about David Lee Roth, former Van Halen frontman? Diamond Dave was a hero of mine back when I was in high school, but now that he's an emergency medical technician on an ambulance crew in the Bronx, he's an even bigger one. As far as I'm concerned, Dave's is the feel-good story of the year. He even helped save a woman's life. My God, can you imagine what it must be like to have David Lee Roth shock you with his paddles?
Dave, you've gone the extra mile. Congratulations--You're the Fishing Report Person of the Year!
Link
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