In Roger's words.....about Kathy his wife.

Hey, I wasn't looking for a girlfriend.. I was having too much fun
trashing GJs (wish I was kidding about that one). She chased me a
long time before she caught me.. I think she got me drunk and took
advantage of me. Yeah.. that was it.. :) I guess it worked out,
considering we are going to celebrate our 27th anniversary this year.
She was just too damn cute to not let her tag along!

She was definitely a repressed wildchild. I thought it best to sell
the motorcycle after we pulled a wheelie from one end of the GJ
parking lot to the other and the first words out of her mouth
were "let's do it again!". That was just a bit crazier than my
parking-lot-length white smokes in my Mach 1. I think you were
especially fond of those, Todd. No, wait.. it was the opposite of
that, wasn't it.. :) And she still says "foots". It cracks the kids
up to no end.

And hey, I tried to make up for trashing the place by cleaning the
place for the three year I worked there. I even got Brandi Bossie to
scrub under the shelves. :) Of course by that time, pretty much
EVERYONE was drinking and poor Dave was constantly asking why we were missing at least a keg of beer a month.

Kathy and I did day shift for quite some time.. we had a great time.
I think that's when we really started to know things were going to
work.. when a couple can work together every day and still get along,
that's a good thing. I still liked working oven weekend nights the
best.. there's definitely an art to having two ovens full. Not that
delivering was bad.. I got a $20 tip once just because I was having
to work through the Superbowl (y'all know I don't like football).

I actually tried to buy the place when those drug guys closed it. I
had a business plan (I still have the last five years of accounting
statements from Dave) several investers I was working on, but it was
clear a recession was coming.. and I wasn't sure how bad those guys
had ruined the name (or if I wanted to get involved with "those" type
of people. In the end, that guy that owned told me I could just have
the name (stupid me didn't get it in writing). If we had not just had
a kid, I would have done it. I REALLY wanted that place. Now it's
just a black wall with movie posters on in. I was most sad.

But, thanks to Willingham, we were a family that has lived on past
the building. We all had our differences and didn't always all get
along, but Dave built a bond that has lasted for decades. Honestly,
who has ever been as close to a group of people bonded only (in most
cases) by work.. before or since. When Kathy and I got married, we
knew (at least for the year-and-a-half we lived at Celery Stalk) that
if it was a Friday or Saturday night, there would be at least 15
people coming over.

Lest anyone think otherwise, this has all been toung-in-cheek. I
cherish the memories of GJs.. did I mention I met my wife there? :)
My kids know about GJs (my oldest actually works across the parking
lot at Chuck's.. where I went when I left GJs). Pretty much everyone
I know knows about GJs. It, and everyone there, were such a big part
of my life. Nothing but the fondest memories.

And yes, the Slab-O-Cow parties. Those were so much fun and I was
always in awe of the turnout. We stopped those when child two was
born with critical heart problems. That's when we quit drinking,
almost 11 years ago. Something about the thought of making a life or
death decision while drunk wasn't real appealing. That pretty much
put an end to the parties. I definitely miss all you.

Y'all are all family and I love you all. Y'all hold a big place in my
heart and it will be that way until the day I die. Fun times, for
sure! Y'all take care now, ya hear? :)

Ciao for now.
Rog