Hello again,

    These past few days, I have been trying to think of a topic for this month’s letter. I was really struggling for something to say. I know some of you are having a hard time believing that someone that talks as much as I do, could ever be in search of something to talk about. Well it’s true. Then I received a phone call. That’s when I realized what I needed to write about and what I had to do. I had to get serious. Even if it was only for a short time. Everyone knows I joke around a lot, sometimes too much. That’s me. This phone call changed that for a moment. The call was from fellow club member Connie O’Connor. Her thirty-seven year old son David Blake was just diagnosed with inoperable and terminal cancer. To make it even worse, David has a little five year old son. I won’t get into all the details, I’m sure you get the picture. It was a devastating call about a horrible thing. Now Connie isn’t after your pity and sympathy. That is not what this is all about.

    What all this leads up to is friendship. This club started out as a group of people with Mustangs in common, but along the way we have found something much more to bind us together. It’s friendship. Sounds corny, I know, but it’s true. Connie called me and just needed a friend. For that I am honored.

    No kind words I could come up with, nor anything I could say or do, will ever stop her hurt, but maybe her being able to talk to someone might help ease her burden, even if only for a short time. I’ll say it again. She needed a friend.

    I recently attended Orrie Engle’s viewing and saw an amazing amount of fellow Mustangers in attendance. They weren’t there because of cars. They were there because a friend had passed away.
That’s what makes the Suncoast Mustang Club different. We’re friends. It’s not always sad times. There have been some good times too. How about all the shows, events, picnics, dinners, trips, birthdays, anniversaries, and get-togethers we’ve attended over the years. Or how about all the kids and grandkids this club has seen in its 27 years. Looking back through old photographs of some of these events I realize it’s not just about the cars. It’s so much more than that.

    Life on this earth, with all its ups and downs, is only temporary, but the friends we make along the way, I think will last forever.