I missed Valentine’s Day and couldn’t even get it together for his birthday 11 days later. But my friend finally got his gift last Wednesday. It was something I knew he needed to hear ever since I met his new girlfriend Paula several years ago. The recipient would be Ott, named Terry by his parents but corrected by we of the Vicksburg class of ’70 shortly after he entered his teens. See us here as we get made up for the Follies in ‘69
He never wears lipstick anymore.
Here he is with some of the select from the class of ’70, gathered outside the Henry Ford in June of ’16 to go see the Beatles exhibit.
Left to right it’s Ott, Norts, Hummel, Wang, me, Hooch, and RT. Yes, somehow I missed out on a nickname.
Ott was already with Paula then, so he’s been with her for a while. And I’ve had this idea for almost a long. Ott raised a fine family with his wife, who died young of cancer in the aughts. See him and his kids on Father’s Day ‘18.
Ott’s a retired skilled tradesman, union man all the way. But his passion is photography. He even shoots with a big 6 ½ X 8 ½ glass plate camera like Ansel Adams used https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/ansel-photo-gear/
It was at a photography class where he met Paula, a nurse with four children. They hit it off and he brought her to one of the gatherings of VHS’70’s select that Hummel likes to throw. Everyone thought she was terrific and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered how Ott landed such a gem, but I was happy for him nonetheless. She and I got along, even talked a little shop. Now Ott’s pretty beat up from all those years in the trades, added on top of the bad motorcycle accident he survived in high school. So having a full-time nurse was a good thing for him. Then a few years ago when he underwent a major valve job, it was really helpful. I realized at that first meeting that Martin Mull had written a song just for them 40 years ago. I decided Ott needed to hear it and set about tracking down the album then trying to make an MP3 of the track. I couldn’t do it with the first program I bought – Golden Records – which was later incompatible with the new Mac I got for my birthday last year. YouTube told me I could do it with Garage Band, just needed some cables and an adapter. But, ha! Now, this was always a back burner project, something always on my to do list but never crossed off. With Valentine’s Day coming, I vowed I’d finally get it done. I’d looked for the song on YouTube a while back, but no luck. Not so this year, finally searching after failing to produce a VD or b-day present on time. So off it went to Ott on March 3rd, complete with an MP4 I’d made from the YouTube URL with Clideo.com. Yes, they liked it. Before I give you the link, let me show you the girl that inspired it all. Curiously, she has all the attributes of the girl Mull’s singing to. Plus, she’s a nurse! So Ott really hit the jackpot. Here she is with Ott and two of his grandkids on Halloween ‘18.
Here’s the cover of the album that contains the song I sent, released in ‘75.
And here’s the link to the YouTube. Hope you like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rum7KYThXWg
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