You know that other folks "know how you think" when this happens . . .

I walked into the training room at work today and one of the department managers was there talking to an instructor.  He stopped right in the middle of his conversation with her, looked at me and said "I thought about you this morning coming to work.  I passed this old VW van . . . bus . . . whatever it is they call 'em, and I said to myself out loud, I bet Zen would love that!"  Then he added "It looked like it must have belonged to some old hippy . . . it was decorated up with little flowers or something all over it . . . and some writing but I did't get to read it."  Then I realized I knew the bus he was talking about when he said "It had some kind of big round sign on the side of it.  I tried to see what it said when I went around, but it was too dark."

It was too dark because I had to go in to work early this morning . . . It was MY BUS!

The instructor that was there clued him in . . . she caught that it was my bus and grabbed a picture of her standing beside it off the wall (that's another story in its self) and said, "did it look something like this?"  He cracked up and said "no wonder I thought about you . . . you were driving it weren't you?"

I was just a little too young to be a hippy.  I wanted to be one, but when I got old enough, there was no demand for them anymore . . . so I decided take my second career choice and be an auto mechanic . . . then I decided I liked to eat, so I went to work in a textile mill . . . but, I never gave up the dream so, after 15 years so I started messing with old VWs.

Now I have the best of all 3 worlds . . . I get to wear cool tie-died shirts, drive "hippy" vehicles and from time to time I even get to hang out with folks who were "real" hippies . . . and I get to turn wrenches and get a little grease under my nails . . . but I also have a "real" job so I can eat.  And a side benefit is I once again have an excuse to play with toy cars and the money to buy a few!

:yinyan:  It's funny how things eventually work out if we hold on to the dreams we had as a kid!  I need to find a new copy of a bumper sticker I had years ago . . . I'll concede to getting older, but I refuse to Grow Up!   :yinyan:

Hey Zen, Just who exactly are you referring to as real "hippies"?

I kind of had folks like Elmer (or Elmo, or whatever his name is) in mind . . . you know the guy I'm talking about don't you?  He drives a bus, makes a living selling beads, candles, sandles and necklaces . . . If he wasn't a "real" hippie, he missed his calling!   :yinyan: