As I near halfway, 50 breakfasts might not be enough. This is such an enjoyable way to start each and every day. For you Arrested Development fans, when I first saw the actor Michael Cera I thought he should pay Jack Abels royalties, but he was doing Jack's schtick. Jack has always found humor in himself and the world around him. Driving back from the Olivette Diner, I think back a long time to when I first knew Jack, someone came back from Mackenzie Pool and said, "Hey I think that guy you know almost died." Jack had taken a scuba class or two and knew a trick to take the air out of his lungs, so he did it to walk across the bottom of the ten feet. It did not go well, but I see an Arrested Development episode where John Michael did the exact same thing only to be brought back to life by mouth to mouth from Maybe..... and comedy ensued. If you have not watched Arrested Development get on it, and the jokes are sometimes set up 3 episodes before hand so binge watching works well.
Jack knew he wanted to be a stockbroker right out of college and worked hard and slugged through the tough years of building a client base to have a successful career now. In the early 80s he talked me out of buying the best selling stock of that year, but I wanted to buy it for its video game potential and it also made Cabbage Patch dolls so we were both wrong, but the money would have been nice. Now Jack tries things in life. He probably is the best at seeing something interesting in his reading of the world and actual going out and doing it. I do not know of anyone who would fly in a wingsuit, but it would not surprise me if Jack all of a sudden knew a guy, who knew a guy and he was wingsuiting it in the mountains of the Yucatan. By the way, I am not sure if the Yucatan has mountains, but Jack if he was wingsuiting would be in an exotic locale.
Jack is an actor or has at least tried his hand at some community theatre over the years. (So maybe Michael Cera did steal his schtick). He did this in his professional years, and it has been a long time since I have seen a play of his, but you have to applaud the brother for sticking his neck out and trying it. And the other thing is, he knew that he enjoyed doing what he was doing. He was not concerned about what others might say. Immediately Harry Chapin's song Mr. Tanner is in my head. I am not certain that Jack introduced me to the music of Harry Chapin or Bruce Springsteen, but we both listened to them together back in the days, before everyone else did.
Tony Sciuto once told me he is a quipster. He does not tell jokes, he just waits for others to say something that he can play off of and then he cracks wise. I also try that, but I think Jack and I are always trying to set up the next laugh or tell a good story. With Jack, I think he truly does this because he enjoys the laughter of others. He is a good guy to travel with, because he makes the dinner conversations more interesting and more full of laughter.
Somehow, it might have been because we were always looking for rides home, the St. Dominic Savio boys hooked up with the Seven Holy Founders boys early in our freshmen year at SLUH. It is amazing to me know in the days of helicopter parents and cell phones that a significant percentage of my freshmen class at SLUH did not know how they were getting home each day. Somehow it all worked out. Tony Sciuto and I have been friends with Jack since those early days at SLUH. And then one summer, every time we went out we would stop at Jack's first and then go to the Agne household. We were always laughing at the Agne house. I think we had this routine for a whole year. It helped that Gary's sister Tracy was always there and Tracy was very cute and had a great laugh. I think my goal at the Agne house was always to make Tracy laugh and one of us would always make her laugh, sometimes Jack, sometimes Tony, and sometimes me.
I think there are a few students reading this. As the summer of 2018 begins, I hope you had a summer like Jack and I did. Full of good times with good friends and always full of laughter, Jack is always looking down the road for the next laugh.
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