Comments:
Wow, what have I been up to since 1973?
Well.....after graduating I joined the United States Air Force and saw the World. Texas, Spain, most of Europe. Some of S.E.A.
After discharge I lived in North Carolina for a few months and thought...this isn't for me! And back to Chicagoland I went. It's now New Years 1976/77. Wasted about a year looking for fun in all the wrong places but was lucky enough to have friends that owed me. Owed me big! See I introduced them to each other and they fell in love got married and that was by the end of their first date! No, I kid. They did fall in love at first sight and Married rather quickly. And they wanted to show their appreciation by introducing me to some of the girls they knew and thought I would like. Well, after a few tries, some disastrous, some not so much, they finally got around to a wonderful girl named Teresa Shaw who graduated GBN (Booooohissss). She and I seemed to hit it off enough so that she invited me to a couple of parties, bring any friends, and we had some good times. (While in the Air Force I injured my back while on duty. Eventually I could no longer perform my duties as a Fuel Specialist while stationed in Spain that I was given an early discharge)
During this early dating period with Teresa my back went out and didn't take me with it so I spent some time in the North Chicago V.A. trying to find a remedy. And after 30 days the V.A. deems you totally disabled and get full disability pay while in the hospital. I stayed 3 months!! Decided to ask Teresa out for a real "date" and paint Chicago red. It was a real nice check I got from the V.A.! So, we spent an evening with 2 other couples for dinner and fun at the Chicago Playboy Club. (Thank-you Scott Merriman for having that Key Card). This was January 22, 1978. By May 28th I decided I was totally in love with her and she with me! By August 12th we were married! Yes you could say that was a short engagement! But, when it's right why wait? So, it was off to Missouri for 5 years and after too many days working in a warehouse I applied to Surgical Tech School through the University in Columbia Mo. And as usual, the Hospitals in Columbia were saturated with former students and I had to start looking elsewhere for employment. During my schooling, and some time before, Teresa had become an Optician for Pearle Vision. So, we packed our bags and bundled up our first child, Elizabeth and headed off for...North Carolina. I guess it was for me! We've been here since 1982 or so and now that we've got our first Granddaughter I'm not sure if we'll be leaving any time soon! During my life I've enjoyed music, play guitar, even had a band called the Joe Reichard Trio. With me on guitar and vocals, my partner Tony on everything with strings and one without plus harmonies and our third member....a large life-sized cardboard cutout of Albert Einstein! He was a chick magnet!! And for about 2 or 3 years we had a lot of fun playing around the Hickory area entertaining anyone who would have us!
I also played quite a bit of golf whenever time and weather permitted. And seeing as the only day the golf courses are closed in N.C. is Christmas I really played a lot of golf. Got my Handicap down to 8 before life handed me a lemon. As I said before I had injured my back and I struggled with it off and on for years until 1996 I finally suffered a ruptured disc and had surgery to remove the disc and relieve the pressure on the Spinal Cord. Talk about poetic justice. For years I assisted a myriad group of Surgeons and now I was having major surgery myself. Well, after surgery and P.T. I returned to work. Less than six months passed when I felt the electric shock of a disc rubbing the spinal cord again and had to go under the knife again. This time for a fusion, rods and screws. That was surgery number two. Surgery number 3 was to repair the failed fusion and put in more bone and metal. So much for golf!! So much for my career as a Surgical Assistant. I really hated leaving work. After 18 years I was finally getting the hang of it!!
Now I fight crime.....no actually I fight pain. Daily. Really sucks but I'm destroying my liver with some really nice drugs!
So, I call it being retired and enjoying life at a young age, watching my Children build their niches in life. My daughter Elizabeth is a 3rd grade teacher. It's a profession she trained for as early as 6 years of age when she "taught" my first son Benjamin his ABC's and then when our youngest Alex was old enough to join in the "class". She knew at an early age what she wanted to do and is now doing it. In January she gave birth to her first child, Julia with her husband Josh Farris. They make a wonderful family and I can see them one day celebrating their 30th Anniversary like Teresa and I did this past August.
My son Benjamin has dreamed of being involved in the music business ever since he learned that music can involve spitting and cussing! He's now on his way to New York to start his Internship at Sony BMG after getting his BS in Music Business. Living his life's dream listening to music and getting paid for it!! I'm totally jealous of him. He's interning under the second in command of the A&R dept at Sony so he gets to listen to all the demo's that come it, tell his boss which ones he likes and then sit in on the A&R meetings with all the Department when they decide who will be the next big music star(s)!
My youngest is still in that "I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life". Here's hoping his mother and I aren't sending him out for pizza at age 33 and moving while he's gone!
Actually he's starting to play guitar and sing at one of the Clubs that the "JR TRIO" played at.
So, that brings us up to now. Whew. See what happens when you have a lot of time on your hands? Verbiage!
