This is a Post that I made on this date February 7, 2018. We are six years and a million miles from here now.

Several years ago my grandson Nathan came to me and ask for help with a school project.

Nathan graduated last year and this happened when he was about 9 or 10 so yes, it’s been awhile.

He needed to do a report about something historic. Since we owned the old Bertram Drug Store at that time and I’d researched the history of that building, I suggested that be the topic.

A short time before that I had reconnected with a childhood friend from my days growing up in Jollyville.

Jim and his family were some of our closest neighbors down on the creek, Bull Creek, back in the early 60s. His dad had retired from the Military. He smoked a pipe and wore a smoking jacket with nice leather slippers when around the house. His mother was a very dignified lady and was very sweet. They were what we considered upper crust folks. The house they had built on their acreage was by far the nicest home I ever walked into as a child.

Jim had a bedroom with a model train setup full time. Our train set had to be reboxed after every use, because we only had space in the living room floor for it. He had model military planes of every kind. His bedroom was about the size of our whole house.

Jim was a grade ahead of me and his older brother was a couple of years older than Kenny. I spent a lot of time at their place.

After we moved from Jollyville back to Marble Falls in the mid 60s, I never saw Jim again.

But as I said earlier Jim and I reconnected over breakfast one morning about a decade ago. Then we had lunch another day when he introduced me to his wife Laurie.

I checked with Nathan and his report could be written or it could be a video. Jim, a University of Texas graduate, told me he had done several low budget films and I had even seen some clips from some of his projects. One was done in Paris, France.

I talked to him about coming out and filming Nate and me while we moved around the Drug Store Building, with me telling him about the history. On a Saturday morning Jim and Laurie (she was his filming assistant) came to Bertram and we made a short film. It was approximately 5 or 6 minutes long.

I didn’t remember what his grade was on the project.

It was fun doing it and I really appreciated Jim and Laurie working with us. What I did figure out was if there is ever a movie made of my life, I won’t be playing myself in it. My performance was somewhat lacking. Talk about sounding like a hick. I’ll just leave it there.

For what ever reason, Jim and I failed to keep in touch after that. It really takes an effort to stay connected. Remember this was all written several years ago.

Jim got ahold of me since this writing. He told me that me sharing my book with him had inspired him to write a book. His book is fiction, but it came out of growing up down on Bull Creek. The book weaves in a couple of brothers the character grew up with and about riding horses and a donkey together as well as other adventures. That book came out in 2022. There are others in the series that are due out. But being retired as Jim is, can do things to us. Gives us the freedom to write and do things with fervor or gives us a sense of let’s take things slow and easy. But in time that next book will be out or it won’t.