Richard’s Ramblings

While I was in the county government center in El Dorado County last week, I saw Pete Harnack, an ex-coworker from TAB Products. I haven’t seen him since I left, oh, eight years ago?

That must have triggered something in my mind, because sometime that night I dreamed about visiting the old corporate headquarters which was previously located in Palo Alto off of Page Mill Road before they moved to Chicago. Basically, I let myself in with an access code that was somehow still active after all the years, and walked around saying “Hi” to everyone. Odd, since entry never required an access code and I said “Hi” to people that never worked there. Never mind. Of those that actually had worked there in the past, I saw Judy Lea, Kim Wilson (or Scheig, or whatever it may be now), Jim Anderson, Cedi Smith, Suzi Maness, Bob Palechek, Jill Keith, and many more, most of whom I can’t remember their names. As I was leaving, Kim yelled from the third story balcony (OK, there wasn’t a third floor, let alone one with a balcony!) and threw down a small ornate wooden box. In it was what looked like a large gold band and a pair of earrings enveloped in a plush velvety lining. In the usual nonsensical way that dreams tie things together, I assumed that it was a symbol that she had left her husband, Mark. All I can remember of him was that he was as an ex-military guy (army?) who, according to stories told by Kim during our frequent lunches, urinated in the corner of their bedroom one night and, on another occasion, was picked up by the police for running down Highway 85, naked and yelling.

Funny how we remember the strangest things about people…

I often wonder how some of my oldest friends and acquaintances are doing: Meg Sweet, Margo Coffman (possibly a Cantrell now), Amy Fleisig, Teresa Trueba, Barbara Wong, Jenn Matlack, Janine Bray, Wendy Arthur, Shireen Hussain, and the Kim mentioned above, not an all-inclusive list. We are all influenced by the experiences we’ve had with others in the past, some bad, some good. I suppose that part of this past reflection has something to do with the fact that I also found my old scrapbook recently. It only has a dozen or so pages in it, but it briefly covers significant events and people from high school through life after college. I’ll have to have my wife redo some of the pages with her new-found hobby of scrapbooking.

And even after all these years, I very frequently think about and miss Tammy Leilani Herrick. I can’t believe it’s been more than ten years now…

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