Dad's Secretary

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JoAnne was a sweeetheart, it wasn’t until later in life that I knew her story. Her husband left and dad placed her kids in foster homes, never knew that. Once she got back on her feet she was able to get her kids back. Her first husband left her hi and dry, no money and no child support. My dad ran Lutheran Social Services for Iowa, it was his job, but he saw a bad situation and tried to make things work out. Well, it did, she got remarried and got her kids back and had a great life.

Fast forward, I drop out of college and live with this ■■■■■■■ crazy ex-marine who spent his last year working as a guard at Guantanamo vs going to jail for kicking the ass of an officer. We meet up at Northern Iowa and become close friends. Later we both drop out and move to Das Moines and live together and I’m doing sales and he’s running crews for a HVAC company. It was great except I wasn’t get laid enough so I quit to go back to college and bartend where I made no money but got laid plenty.

Ricky Joe was the best man in my wedding, we still talk all the time. So one day he calls me up and says, “Hey, didn’t your dad run Lutheran Social Services?”. Yeah, so what? Was JoAnne his secretary? Yeah, so what. Well I just found out my dad was married before he married my mom, and it was JoAnne. Turns out he’s got two half sisters I knew my whole life and he never knew. Wow, well, wow.

Ricky Joe owns Kohles and Bach, one of the largest HVAC co’s in Des Moines today, he’s got money and he’s generous. So he finds out his half sister is grand mother to Ben Keuter. Now I’ve known his sisters forever, and this was ■■■■■■■ unreal. Ben Keuter was a 4x state wrestling champion in Iowa, which BTW is a big ■■■■■■■ deal. Ben is a freshman and just won at 197 at Oklahoma St about 20 minutes ago,sealing an IOWA win. Ben is also going to be the next starting MLB at IOWA in one more year. Ricky and I are more than close, bailed each other out of jail over the years and are closer then we are with our blood relatives. Life is, in fact, stranger than fiction.

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That’s pretty cool. man. Just goes to show, some doors close and other doors open. The universe takes us where we need to be

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There’s just some shit you can’t make up.

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That’s pretty amazing. That would qualify for Paul Harvey. Crazy how the butterfly effect can make an avalanche of impact.

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You know it’s really weird because Ricky invited his sisters to his sons wedding. Well, we sat at the same table and my dad died when he was 51 but those women told me stories about how he changed their life and what he meant to them. I cried, in fact walked away and wept because I simply don’t know anyone who remembers my dad that way. I was 21 when he passed. My wife had never seen me like that and in fact I had no idea that it would be so emotional. It was OK, it was happy sad. I was sorry to lose him but he lived on thru the stories of others. I think about JoAnne, her struggles, my dad, her children, my friend and what it all means. Well, what it means is that nothing is ever over, it’s just sitting there ready to remind you how connected we are and probably will be to our past and the future.

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An amazing story Jack. As really glad you turned your life around as well.

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I wouldn’t go that far, because seriously in most ways I’m the same person. Age has slowed my roll, that’s for sure but those days shaped who I was. For Ricky Joe he quit drinking because it was that or die. I never drank like he did but I did get a DUI leaving a Jimmy Buffet concert at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. Was parked on the side of the road looking at a map. Should have taken the keys out of the ignition but did’t think it was an issue. It was.

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Ben Keuter defeats #11 Konner Doucet 5-1.

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He’s a freshman and was behind MLB Jay Higgins who led the Big 10 and was third in the nation with 171 tackles. He’ll be in the NFL soon enough.

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