JMH Takes the Lone Star State Part 1

Growing up, there was only ONE sport to me and that was the sport that had been instilled within by my Grandpa Joe since day one, baseball.  So when Matt came up to me in the summer of 1996 asking me to travel to Dallas, Texas and see the Cowboys play, I really wasn't that excited about the concept of the sport.  Football had always been a bit foreign to me, too many guys on the field at once and two many rules to keep up with.  But because I had never had the opportunity to fly anywhere or even been to that portion of the country, I saw this as an outstanding opportunity to travel with my Pal and have another adventure to add to the chapters of our lives.

 I remember needing to pack my bag the night before departure after working a long shift at Long Johns.  I think we were planning on flying out on a Friday morning, so in order to get a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday combination off I really had two choices.  I could sign a contract in my own blood and sell my soul to Treasure Isles for eternity, or I could work my ass off the Thursday before and the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Valuing my soul just a tad, I decided to take the second choice. 

 I pulled up to Matt's house late that night before heading home to get my stuff ready. Everyone seemed asleep and I let myself in the back door of the house.  Matt's mom always kept the back door unlocked for me because of my usual late night visits.  As the years progressed and the world around us became more and more of an unsafe environment, she began locking that door and provided me a key.  I always felt special and privileged that she felt as if I was one of the family.

 I entered the house and saw Matt in the front room with his bag.  We gave each other our traditional hello hug and began to exchange pleasantries.  Matt gave me a brief rundown of the trip, sort of an itinerary.  Then he put up a finger.

 "And I have a surprise for you!"  He smiled and disappeared down the hallway.  Now when Matt uttered those words, I never knew what to expect.  Sometimes it was a good thing.  Sometimes it was a bad thing. It was NEVER an uneventful

 I turned down the hallway and saw Matt dart into his parents' bedroom.  He was only gone for a matter of moments and then he reappeared into the hall literally slamming the door behind him.  I winced.  Matt's parents were the heaviest sleepers I had ever come into contact with.  I would show up at their house at ungodly hours of the night and early morning.  Matt and I would horseplay, scream, yell, dance, swim outside their bedroom door, and even throw parties and I would never ONCE see either of his parents show up to tell us to quiet things down.  Matt always told me they were sleeping and I believed this for years.  Later, as I got older, I was having a conversation with his mother.  She did come clean and told me that they heard EVERYTHING that had been going on and ALWAYS did.  There were times they couldn't even get to sleep because we were so loud.  So why did they never say anything to us and tell us to shut the hell up?

"Jeremy, we knew if you and Matt were hanging out here together, we knew he was safe.  And being a parent of a teenager, that peace of mind means more to us than a good night's rest."

Made sense...

"What is that?"  I asked as Matt tore down the hallway right past me to the couch in the front room.  He was carrying a small black bag with him.  I turned and followed.  My interest was definitely peaking.

"This," Matt said as he unzipped the high school English textbook sized bag, "Is the FUTURE!"

I was even more intrigued than usual.  "The future, huh?"

I walked up to Matt as he turned around.  In his hand was a handheld camcorder.  "Behold the future!"

 Now, let's pause for a minute and reflect, because I know several of you are trying to figure out, "Why in the hell is a handheld camcorder the future?"  Well, Matt and I loved to film things.  We have several of our adventures on tape and DVD if you are interested.  The only problem, we only had access to one piece of recording equipment.  It was what we lovingly referred to as "The Anvil". 

"The Anvil" was the one and only video camera my family had. Originally purchased by my grandmother from a video store in Mt. Vernon called Curtis Mathis (which is now a tanning salon), she used it to video me and my cousins for years.  The problem was the camera itself  was about the size and dimensions of an actual studio recording device.  You ever seen the news crew guys with the cameras on their shoulders?  Yep, that was what this thing was.  GINORMOUS!  Bulky and incredibly heavy.  An actual FULL SIZED VHS tape was used for recording.

Besides its Kraken sized appearance, "The Anvil" had another drawback.  Battery life. In today's world of technology, your cell phone battery or digital recording battery may give you endless hours, even days, of recording pleasure.  Well with "The Anvil", it took the famous phrase of life being short too literally and made it about ten minutes.  Luckily life's big events are often made up of quick sprints and not long distance runs. 

This beast use to be my grandmother's pride and joy.  I'm not really sure how it ended up being in my possession, but it did.  Matt and I used it to record some of our greatest adventures.  However, as time passed, we realized it was becoming more and more of a job for us than anything to take "The Anvil" out and fewer and fewer appearances by the device became a reality.  Matt and I always talked about buying something smaller and easier, but we never had, at least not until this day.

Funny thing is, "The Anvil" is STILL in my possession today.  It is sitting in my garage collecting dust, probably still works too...even for a matter of minutes. My wife and I had a rummage sale a few years back.  I put "The Anvil" on sale.  Started the price at $10 and worked my way down to FREE.  It still sits in my garage, someday maybe as an artifact for the JMH Hall of Fame. 

So now you understand why this thing was THE FUTURE!

"Where did you get that!"  I asked reaching for the camera, but Matt pulled it back from my hands.

"Careful.  It's Mom's.  She's never used the thing.  Dad got it for her."  He turned the camera around and around in his hands as if he held some sort of precious gemstone.  He then placed it back into the bag carefully.

I read his behavior quite well.  "Meaning, you are taking it without permission."

Matt looked at me and shook his head.  "NO!"  He then smiled.  "WE are taking it without permission!"  He then laughed.  I wasn't sure I was liking this at all.

"So are you ready?" 

Matt looked at me and grinned.  He grabbed his bag and he camera bag from the couch. 

"The question is not whether you and I are ready.  The question is, is Dallas ready for JMH?"

 

 

"The Anvil" today...