A Flash... From My Past….

Every once in a while, things happen that just make me wonder if we all, really are, connected in some way. A way that's not visible, tangible, but there all the same.

Years ago, I had this friend, now weren’t ‘best friends’ as in did everything together, but we were good friends. We shared some common interests, even worked at the same place for a while.

He moved around 1976, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve heard a word from him since.

Well, recently (as in the past few weeks) I’d been thinking about him. I don’t really know why I’d been thinking about him. Maybe it’s been all the talk about how talent is not always the doorway to success, and that he was the most naturally talented guy I knew back then.

Regardless, I’ve been remembering the great ‘ball point pen’ drawings he used to do. He’d sit, with a blank piece of paper and a ball point pen (like a “bic”), almost anywhere, and create these incredibly shaded drawings.

I’d seen other artists work in ‘pen and ink’, but never with a “bic”, and not like this.

Alan was a very talented artist, but like many talented folks, he still had to make a living. So possibly I was wondering if he ever made a living from his artistic talent.

This morning, while checking my email and deleting the always large amount of spam, there in the ‘In Box’, was an email from Alan Hailston. It seems his Dad had gone up to my Mom and Andy’s to check out Alan’s new website and he'd gotten my email address from them, and then sent it to Alan.

We’ve been emailing off and on all day, getting caught up on what we’ve done over the years, and talking about us all getting together.

If you should go to his website, be sure to check out this section as he uploaded these examples of his ball point pen work so I could see them.

I’m hoping Maryan is feeling well enough to travel soon, and that we can find a good time for us all to get together, hang out and swap some stories. It’s been far to long, and this reconnection too big a surprise to let it slip by.

It’s funny what you remember about folks…. I obviously remember his drawing ability.

He was also a very creative ‘Ad Man’ and while he and I worked at National Auto together he really did some amazing print ads. It turns out that he continued in the advertising business after leaving National and today has his own Ad agency on Virginia Beach, Va.

Another of the other things I remember was his ‘Nova’, now it wasn’t the ‘baddest’ car on the streets locally, but he wanted it to look sharp and I remember working with him on the pin striping layouts. Amazingly enough, in his original email, he mentioned he recalled that and how I’d helped.

I wonder sometimes, about the universe and how things come to pass. Here I was, thinking about him and out of the blue, along comes that email.

I’ve been thinking all day about how many times in my life, that kind of thing has happened. Where I’ve been wishing for something, thinking about something, or in general, just had something in particular on my mind, and how often the next thing I knew, there it was, right in front of me.

Is it all just ‘Universal Coincidence’? Is it just the mere randomness and chaos of life coming together, on occasion, and looking like it’s something more?

I know, I’ve written about this before and pondered about how things seem to happen, just because, when you’re ready for them, and not because you’ve specifically done anything special to ‘make’ it happen.

Maybe I did something recently that charged up the karma wheel, or it’s all just random happenings… I really don’t know. What I do know is that I’m glad he sent that email, and we’re back in contact again!!