Said Goodbye to an Old Friend This Weekend

This weekend has been a rough one for me. Ugh... I hate goodbyes! We all have that one friend that has always been there for you when you needed them. Always full of cheer and laughter. Though we had been friends for only a short time, that's what this friend had become to me and it wasn't easy to say goodbye.

And even though our friendship was short, we had the best times together. You were never a "half empty" kind of friend and you were always cool. You helped me to see the world differently. To see the world in a different, yet better, way.

You were my leather mug.

This leather mug was no ordinary mug. Though expensive ($110) it was worth every penny. It held about 32 ounces and it kept your drink cold all the way down to the bottom. It really was quite remarkable. I had never seen anything like it. We were inseparable, my mug and me.

Well, on Saturday, we were at Country Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin. (The second biggest party of the Summer...next to Rock Fest). The beer was flowing like wine, as they say. It was hot. DAMN hot. But the beer was cold, thanks to my mug. You know what happens when you start drinking a few beers. You have to visit the facilities. So I did and I took my mug with me. Now normally, I would leave my mug with someone and go about my business. Not this time. This time, the mug was empty and I needed a re-fill anyway. So, I brought it with me.

I go into the porta-potty and set the mug off to my right side on some sort of shelf, but it's not really a "shelf" so much as a "place you should NEVER put something of value on." You get the idea. Well, while in the middle of relieving myself, some drunk guy starts reefing on the door and the entire porta-potty was shaking. Just then, knowing that my mug probably couldn't withstand the fury of the thunderous shakes of the porta-potty walls, I turn to the "shelf" in a futile attempt to try and grab it to keep it from dropping into the blue abyss. "NOOOOO!!!!", I screamed as it tumbled to its "watery" grave.

Alas, there was no saving my mug. Within seconds, there it lay. floating atop a sea of waste, paper and other "stuff" that I don't care to mention. It all happened so fast but in slow motion at the same time, and inside I wept.

This wasn't a "red Solo cup" or one of those stupid, clear plastic jobbies. No. I'd let those fall in a heart beat. This was a leather mug. it was my leather mug... and it was gone... gone forever.

So, goodbye old friend. Go rest high on that mountain... that mountain of poo in the waters of the blue lagoon.