Tuesday May 24th, 2011 - Milwaukee, WI Today was yet another diversion from my intended path, but it was worth it. I’m already off my targeted work schedule by so much I’m not even sure what it is. The good news is, nobody else knows or cares a flea’s fanny about any of it - so if I decide it‘s ok, then it is. My friend Corey Scholtka invited me to a Milwaukee Brewers game and tailgate party, sponsored by GMAR - Greater Milwaukee Area Realtors. His dad Roy hired me to speak for their group years ago and he and Corey have always been great supporters of my work wherever and whenever I’ve appeared in the Milwaukee area. I can’t thank them enough. I met Corey years ago at a sports card show, and he’s a wheeler dealer to the max. He’s got entrepreneur written all over him, and we’ve always gotten along very well. He takes calculated risks, and isn’t afraid to have something blow up in his face, which it has from time to time, just like it has with me and anyone else in life who has guts to chase dreams. Corey and I have kept in touch loosely over the years, because we’ve both been all over the country working on whatever it is we were working on. I was looking very forward to catching up with him, but his grandfather passed away, and the funeral was tonight. I felt bad, but that’s how both of our timing tends to go. Still, I didn’t want to waste the tickets. As luck would have it, I was able to contact another one of my long time valued friends Greg Chadwell. Greg is in a league by himself when it comes to hard workers, and he has been my friend for going on thirty years. We first met up at a restaurant called the Rustler Steak House in Milwaukee where we were cooks in about 1982 and have stayed in touch. Greg is like family to me, and I owe him so much I’ll never be able to pay him back. He talked his future in laws to take me in when I needed a place to live, and I lived with them for a few years in my early 20’s when I was just starting out in comedy. They took care of me and supported my dreams and encouraged me like my own blood relatives didn‘t do. That whole situation came at exactly the right time, and I don’t know how I would have survived had I not met Greg who in turn introduced me to his in laws who in turn all took me in as one of their own. I always wanted to hit it big just so I could pay them all back. That’s not why they did it though, and that’s what makes them such sweet people in my eyes. They did it because it was the right thing to do. Period. That’s how life is supposed to work, and they all know it. Their kindness is still fresh in my mind all these years later. I read where Prince had a similar situation when he was a teenager, and he’s taken care of those people as well. I see why. There are times in life when family doesn’t or can’t or won’t come through, so it takes strangers to come along and take up the slack. Thank you. Again, I’m lucky to have such magnificent friends. I’m grateful more now then ever for people like Corey Scholtka and Greg Chadwell who like me for me. They’re true friends.
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