It's no secret that I drove a taxi in Austin while also working in law enforcement between 1971 and 2004.  I didn't work all those years straight in either capacity but they frequently overlapped each other none the less. 

I think the experience I got from both careers made me a better, well-rounded person that can cope with and tolerate the tensest situations without breaking a sweat.  I have been tested many times and am still around to talk about it, so I am living testament to what I preach.

I remember the day I drove Ray Charles Robinson from the Robert Mueller Airport to the Four Seasons Hotel.  He was here to holler at Willie Nelson, an old friend of his. 

It was a sweltering July day in 2001 and my air conditioning had to make them feel like we were in Alaska in the dead of winter, it was so cold.  His escort/guide was a big brother who was also very quiet at first.  He dressed like a Black Muslim (black suit, white shirt and bow tie). I found the topics that we discussed on the way to the hotel sort of funny, all things considered since I've never met a Black Muslim that liked the police. Plus it was challenging talking to them both because ”Bow Tie" was the quiet rider so I tried my best to stay focused on Mr. Charles.

I don't remember the whole conversation verbatim however I do remember asking Mr. Charles if he ever got tired of people asking for autographs and their other forms of adulation.  I asked him if he would rather have the fame OR the fortune and surprisingly he chose "fame" stating, "That's why I'm in show business.  Why would I not want the attention when that's what I love and why I do it?"

Man THAT made so much sense and he was blind since he was a child yet could still see more clearly than very few people that are not blind, especially me.  It wasn't so much his answer but the speed of his response coupled with the way his words touched me.  It was every bit an epiphany.

Very few people realize that I am suffering with Glaucoma and am completely blind in my left eye.  My right eye is going and they are trying to lower my pressure to treat it and save it.  I also have Diabetes and have had it almost 15 years.  I thought my eye problems were related to my Diabetes and if I had been paying attention... Well who knows if the outcome would be different?  Might be worse and truthfully, my life has been so well blessed that I really can't complain.  God loves me.

The thing is, I am a car nut and I have owned many different types of cars over the last 30 some-odd years.  I have two 1978 Corvette Pace Cars, one a L48 auto and the other a L82 manual.  Why two?  I had this crazy idea for a his/hers ensemble, realizing too late that my wife doesn't share my love for nostalgia when it comes to cars, preferring new and improved cars with ONSTAR.  So I have two and may sell one if I get the right price.

Most people that remember when I was in college know that my 1st Corvette was a 1978 Black Coupe with a Black interior and automatic.  I painted it to resemble a Pace Car because I couldn't afford to trade up.  Eventually I sold that car because I was so poor that I couldn't buy the gas.

25 years later I bought authentic 1978 Pace Cars with low mileage and one was a Bloomington Gold Show winner. 

I can afford the gas nowadays but neither car moves from the storage garage they are housed for they are simply nostalgic investments of an eccentricly humorous and hopefully soon-to-be old one-eyed BEIGE man.  That is MY prayer, anyway.