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Monday, August 27, 2012

The Boys of Fall

     God I love that video by Kenny Chesney (The Boys of Fall)!  The last supervisors meeting that I was to attend I had planned on playing this video but circumstances worked against me and we never had that last meeting.  Although the video is about football it also tells the story of life, how fast it goes by, wishing your life away and being part of a team.  That is how I have spent the last 28 years of my life, being part of a team.
     I started my career with the Lee County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy ( a volunteer) and then moved into a full time position a short year later - although it seemed to take forever.  Being part of a team, whether in school or in life can make things so much easier and tougher at the same time.  Not all members of the team are going to get along, you will have natural team leaders, those that others just naturally follow and you will have those that are born followers - they aspire nothing more and there is nothing wrong with that, every team needs these type of people in order to survive.
     I started thinking last night about my last days as a deputy sheriff, although I will always be a deputy sheriff no matter where life takes me now.  One of my memories that flashed through my mind were those dreaded weekends when the Auburn University football team was playing at home and we had to work security at the games.  During the early years it was actually fun, even though you spent most of the time dealing with drunk students and alumni that thought they could do any thing they wanted.  What made it fun was that it was a more relaxed time, you were able to actually talk to folks, didn't have to worry about someone from the University looking over your shoulder to see what you were doing.
     If you have never been to a football game in the south you haven't lived.  No matter what time the game starts, fans start arriving just after sun up and the partying begins.  At Auburn University as probably in most stadiums these days they have suites for those alumni that can afford them.  Now these suites are stocked to the hilt with food, drinks and all the amenities.  During the early days, if you were lucky, you got to work the suite levels and during those days the people in the suites were alot nicer.  They would invite you in to watch the game, get something to eat and basically just hang out with them and then AFTER the game the fun would really start!!!  Once the suites were cleared out we would go to work!!  It was like a feeding frenzy, everything was up for grabs, it didn't matter what they had, roast beef, ham, hot dogs or chicken - we took it all.  We would literally walk out of the stadium with bags and boxes of food - hey it was going to be thrown out anyway.
     As with everything else, as time goes by, things change and usually not for the best.  It got to the point where if you were seen drinking a coke, a supervisor was calling you on the radio ordering you back to your post and after working games for roughly 15 years I decided enough was enough.  I mean it just wasn't fun anymore and it took the whole day away from you, no matter what time the game was.  There were times that by the time we left the stadium, we were lucky to get a couple hours of sleep before we had to be back at work and work a full shift.  Now the money was nice, in those days you were paid in cash and that came in handy, especially around Christmas time but that too has gone away, now the deputies are paid through their payroll checks.
     Now I don't know what caused it, maybe it was the need for money or we just needed someone to work but after being away from the stadium about 3 years I decided to go back and I literally was not there for 5 minutes when I knew I had made a mistake.  It all came rushing back to me in a hurry, the drunks, the snobs, the noise and even though I was in the stadium, I didn't get to see any of the game - my post was in the inner sanctum of the stadium.  That was enough for me, I didn't care if no one else showed up to work the games, I WAS NOT GOING BACK and I never did again.   Instead I enjoyed the rest of the games from the comfort of my home!!
     Retirement has come and once again I have joined an amazing team.  Before I retired I started looking into ways to supplement my income because I knew that my retirement pay was not going to be what I was use to bringing home.  I came across an Internet affiliate marketing job that allowed me to work at home and bring in good money.  It was fun, different and best of all, I determined when I worked and when I didn't.  This opportunity has grown even bigger today as I have partnered with an amazing young woman and we have started our own internet company which specializes in working with an internet company called ZipNadaZilch.  We started the company back in June of this year and have already grown to over 400 paying members and we are expanding daily.  It has been a learning experience and we continue to learn everyday and to bring new ideas to the company on a weekly basis.  The name of our company is Southern Belle Marketing and we can be found at www.southernbellemarketinginc.com

 

     Team work is a part of life and a valuable life lesson that we need to teach our children and their children's children.  If we could all work as a team, our lives would be so much easier and I wonder if that will ever happen in any ones lifetime.

Jack (Tommy) Carter
www.livethegoodlife.ws
www.southernbellemarketinginc.com

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