Jamie believe it or not, with all that I have been through it's not the physical pain that gets you the most. At least not for me. I was seriously deformed after my accident. Basically like the hunchback of Notre Dame. Went from 5'11" to 5'4". I could feel people I'd known all my life staring. The worst is to have someone look at you with pity in their eyes or like they feel sorry for you. That will take the wind right of your sails. Folks mean well. They don't even realize that they are doing it. You can't blame them for that at all. But I can tell you it cuts like a knife. It made me reclusive for a long time. I'd rather people come out and treat me like nothing is wrong. Talk to me about it if they want and treat me like a man. Pick at me and laugh with me. Many of my good friends did just that. They gave me H#ll instead of treating me with kids gloves and I appreciated them for it. Young kids, God bless them, would come up to me on the beach or at the river at my house with my shirt off and ask me straight up, What happened to you? Their moms and dads would get this horrified look on their face, say sorry, and try to hustle the kids away. I would stop them and politely tell them what had happened. Cleaned up G rated condensed version of course. In a strange way it would help me to feel a bit better about myself. And the kids seemed to understand and appreciate you talking to them.
Where's all this going you might ask? I don't want these two friends to see that look in my eye when I see them. I want to stay strong for them. Russell has already become very reclusive. He and I have had that look of pity talk a long time ago when I was going through my bad time. He told me the other day he didn't want people standing around crying over him. I certainly respect that and will try as hard as I can to treat him like I always have. He's a die with his boots on type of guy. I'm hoping we can get him into the blind the last week of duck season.
Funny story. A few years back when Covid first hit, Russell, a cousin, and I were having a good duck season and hunting pretty much every day. We would pass the Lord Calvert bottle back and forth at the end of the hunt as we have always done. The next day the cousin and I were together when Russell called and told us he had bad news. He sounded like he had just lost his favorite dog. He said he didn't feel real bad but he had just tested positive for Covid and the doctor had told him to stay isolated. He said "I guess my duck season is over. Doc said I don't need to be around anybody. I don't want ya'll to get Covid from me. In the same breath my cousin and I said " We've been drinking liquor out of the same bottle all week, if you have it, we very likely will too, what time do you want us to pick you up in the morning". It was the best week of duck hunting we've had in a long time.
