Relocation

  I had been staying in Greenville basically for free.  I had to pay for my food and stuff, but the rent was free.  My roommate and I were staying in his condo which was paid for.  One day, he informed me that he was having to relocate to Clemson with his job as a property manager, and I was going to have to move out.  This came as quite a shock to me.  I loved Greenville, but I couldn't afford to stay there.  The utilities were about $150/month.  That was $150 more than I had in the bank.  

 I didn't want to leave Greenville.  I tried selling some of my albums to a record store.  I gathered up several that were worth a lot, including a Ron Wood autographed album with his original artwork included.  I got around $60 for it.  Way less than it was worth, but I was desperate.  In all, they gave me $100 for these albums.  I contacted a friend who managed a storage unit in Columbia.  She said she would give me a special rate of $20/month to store my stuff.  So, I started to move my records, tapes, cd's, videos, clothes, and some furniture down there by my car.  I tried to make runs once or twice a week to get them down there.  Some of the big pieces of furniture, like bookcases, dresser, chest of drawers, and kitchen table w/chairs, I had to leave there.  They were eventually moved to my roommate's mother's house in Easley.

 Without money, I sunk into depression.  I would be driving down the highway and think what if I just drove into an overpass?  My brain began to get blurry.  One Saturday, I drove to Simpsonville to see my friend Mary.  I told her that I just couldn't go on.  She sat me down and got out a pad and pencil.  She told me to write down why I should live in one column, and then why I should die in a second column.  Through my tears, I began to write.  The live column was longer than the die column.  She told me that I was realizing that there was more to live for.  But, I still didn't have enough money to move, and I didn't have money to stay.

 I reached out to my college roommate, who lived outside of Greenville.  He had a 2-bedroom trailer, and he said I could live there, if his parents agreed.  They were paying for the trailer.  We drove to their home in Spartanburg.  I had met them years before, but it was like meeting them again for the first time.  His father asked me if I had a job, and I said no.  So, he gave me an ultimatum that I would find a job within a month's time so as to help pay for the rent.  This was during the recession, and jobs were scarce.  But, I agreed to his terms.  We went back to the trailer, and he showed me around.  It was okay, but there was an unusual smell about it.  He had an inside cat.  The litter box was in the one bathroom, and there wasn't much air circulation.  I gagged in the bathroom.  His one rule was that the cat couldn't go outside.  

 The next day, we went shopping to get some curtains for my bedroom.  When we got back to the trailer, he told me that his refrigerator needed cleaning, and that I should do it to test my skills in cleaning.  From the look of the inside of the refrigerator, it appeared that he hadn't cleaned it at all.  There was gunk and grime everywhere.  He gave me a knife and some ammonia to have at it.  I scraped and cleaned as much as I could without passing out.  When I finished, he declared it good and said it was time for supper.  We were having hot dogs.  He used the same knife from the cleaning to spread ketchup on the buns.  Even though he had rinsed it off, I got grossed out.  I knew I couldn't stay there.

 The next morning, I woke up early.  I moved out.  While I was opening the door, the cat got outside (oops).  I think the cat was trying to escape, too.  I drove to downtown Greenville and parked, so that I could get a wi-fi signal.  I emailed a friend from high school about my situation.  He had a good head on his shoulders, and I valued his advice.  His mother had just died, and I also wanted to express my sympathy.  I drove back to the old condo and decided to just crash there for a couple of days and figure out what I was going to do.

 A couple of days later, a letter came in the mail from my friend in Columbia.  In it was a check for $5000.  I couldn't believe it.  Tears rolled down my face once again.  I could now afford to move back to Columbia, where I felt I had a better chance in finding a job.  When I thanked my friend for the money, he said not to worry about it.  He said that God told him to do it.  I never said goodbye to my former college roommate, and I don't think he ever forgave me.  I'm sorry, Gary.  I hope you found your cat.

The Ring

  As I wrote previously, when I moved to Greenville, I cashed in my 401k to live on that money.  I didn't have a job, so this was my only real income except for selling some of my stuff online.  Around November, I started to run out of money.  I talked to a friend to tell her that I was thinking about selling my Mother's wedding ring for cash.  I had gotten it after she died in 2004.  A few days later, I got an email from a friend of hers urging me not to sell the ring and that I would regret doing it.

 That friend of hers was Lt. Governor Andre Bauer.  I knew that she knew him, because she had talked about their friendship over the years, but I had no idea that she would tell him about my dilemma.  He told me that there were ways to get money despite the recession, and that I shouldn't resort to selling the ring. She had also told me what a caring man Andre was, and that most people didn't see that side of him.  There were rumors about him, but my friend told me that those rumors weren't true.  I believed her after reading the email.

 A couple of weeks later, I saw that Andre was going to speak at a church in Simpsonville.  Also on the program was Attorney General Henry McMaster.  I went to that event and sat close to the front row.  The church was packed.  Andre spoke about his near death experience in a plane crash, and about how he had grown closer to God.  I don't remember what Henry spoke about.  After the meeting, I introduced myself to Henry.  He knew me through my brother.  He was cordial, but a lot of people wanted to speak to him.  Andre was standing next to a wall in the sanctuary.  I went over to him to say hello.  He reached out his hand to me as any politician would.  I leaned into his ear and said that I was the one who was thinking about selling my Mother's wedding ring.  He brightened up and called me by name, as if we were old friends.  He asked me if I had sold it, and I said no.  He told me not to.  He said the next time I was in Columbia to come by his office.

 Soon after that meeting, I found myself in Columbia and called to see if he was at the State House.  He was, because the Senate was in session.  He presided over the Senate.  I went into his office, and we chatted for a few minutes.  I told him that I had saved his life twice.  He was shocked to hear that and asked how.  When he was in the legislature, he was running for another term.  His goal was to walk across Newberry County, which was in his district.  Once, I was driving from Laurens to Columbia, after visiting my Mother.  I was coming over a two-lane bridge, and he was walking on the other side of the bridge.  I had to swerve to miss him.  The second time, I was riding down US1 in the country coming back from Augusta.  There was a blind curve, and I was driving pretty fast.  Round the curve, he was walking on the road.  I had to swerve to miss him.  Both times, I was glad no cars were coming in the opposite lane.  Both times, I could have hit him.  He thanked me for not doing that.

 He asked me if I would like to be recognized as his guest in the Senate chamber.  I was honored.  He told me to give a short bio to his chief of staff.  I told him that I was a nationally published writer and actor.  I thought that sounded better than retail.  His chief of staff told me to take the Senate elevator to the gallery.  He said that there would probably be some Senators in the elevator, so I was not to repeat anything they said.  I will take their comments to my grave.  When it came time for my recognition, Andre stood at his podium and told the Senators that he wanted to recognize me as a special friend.  He had one of the Senators from Greenville to read my bio.  The Senator was impressed with it and said on the floor that he looked forward to reading some of my writings.  The other Senators clapped.  I felt pretty special that day.  

 As a footnote, it was a running joke with Andre and me after that about asking if I had sold my Mother's ring.  We would have a laugh over that.  I never did.  If anyone sees Andre, you can tell him that I donated the ring to my church years later, because I felt that is what my Mother would have wanted to allow them to sell it and use that money for missions.  It was only right.

Baby

  I loved going to the Greenville Zoo.  It wasn't as big as Riverbanks in Columbia, but I got to get in free, because I was a member of Riverbanks.  (Not a resident, just a member)  

 The Greenville Zoo had animals such as giraffes, elephants, monkeys, ducks, alligators, snakes and much more.  I was there one day when a group of young school kids went on a tour.  I was sitting outside the snake house.  The kids were laughing on the way in and screaming on the way out.  The snakes were behind glass, but it was fun to see their reactions.  I also loved going down to see the ducks.  They sort of shared a pond with the alligator.  I never saw an incident thankfully.

 One of the animals they have are orangutans.  They are pretty intelligent beings.  I was there one day after the female had given birth.  As I approached the fence, the female saw me.  She had her baby in her arms.  She walked down to me and reached out her arms to show me her baby.  It was a very sweet moment.  Mama was very proud of her baby, as opposed to the Daddy.  He was further back in the enclosure playing with a paper bag.  When I saw Mama show me her baby, I felt I had to react.  I smiled and touched my chest near my heart.  She smiled.  I nodded my head in appreciation.  After a few minutes of admiration, she turned and walked away with her baby.  I waved goodbye and headed on back to other parts of the zoo.  It was a very moving experience.  She was so proud of her baby, and she wanted to share it with me.  It was one of those "ah" moments.

Pain

  I know something about my body.  If I eat something, and it doesn't agree with me, it usually starts to tell me after four hours.  I went to Arby's for a late lunch one day and had a roast beef sandwich.  I didn't see or taste anything unusual in the meat, but I did four hours later.  I had food poisoning.  Both ends of the spectrum were telling me this.  I knew what food poisoning was, since I had a severe bout of it, when I was in seminary.  If you haven't had it, I pray you never will.  My roommate took me to the hospital because of my condition.  I told the doctor what had happened, and where I had eaten.  He called Arby's to report the incident and was sending two health officers over there to seize the meat.  If it had happened to me, then surely it had happened to others who had eaten there.  Arby's said they knew nothing about it (of course).  When the officers got there, they were told they had thrown the meat away.  No evidence.  They did put Arby's on notice.

 A couple of months later, I experienced the worse pain of my life.  Worse than the doctor doing an operation on me, when I was a kid, without anesthetic.  My roommate took me back to the hospital.  They did a battery of tests and found I had kidney stones.  I am told that the pain is the equivalent of women undergoing childbirth.  If that is the case, then I feel for them.  It was horrible.  I was sent home with some pain meds and told to drink lots and lots of water to flush the stones out.  I was also told to cut down on caffeine, because apparently it helped the stones to develop.  No more soda drinks or sweet tea for a while.  Just water.  After a couple of days, the stones passed.  Little bits of what looked life sand.  It was amazing to me how something so small could cause so much pain.  That's where the analogy of childbirth differs.  Thankfully, the stones weren't as big as babies.  

Trips

  This entry doesn't have anything to do with some illegal substances I might have taken, when I was much younger.  I plead the 5th on that.  This is about some places I went while in Greenville.  The great thing about that area is that one can go to a variety of places within one to two hours.

 I love the mountains.  They are very calming for me.  I love the fact that it is not too terribly hot in the summer, and the winter has snow sometimes.  Of course, the fall leaves are amazing.  And, the spring flowers are breathtaking.  One of the places I went to was Hendersonville and Flat Rock in NC.  Downtown Hendersonville was having this Art Fair.  I went up there for that, and also found a cool record store there.  I was just passing through Flat Rock, where there is a world-class theatre.  I went there once, when I was little, because my cousin was working there.  Flat Rock was very congested, because it is only a two-lane road through there.  Also, there is the Robert Frost home.  I wanted to tour it, but I didn't have the time.  Back at Macy's, I worked with a woman named Peggy.  When she was younger, she was at a youth camp near Flat Rock.  One day, she and a friend went to Frost's home and knocked on the door.  He came to the door, and they chatted for a few minutes.  Pretty cool.

 Another place in the mountains is Pretty Place at Camp Greenville near Caesar's Head.  It is an outdoor chapel.  You can refer back to the story early on, where I had a vision of Heaven there as an attendee of the camp.  On this day, I arrived when a couple was getting married.  My two most beautiful places I have visited is Rheinfall in Switzerland and Pretty Place.  The latter doesn't cost as much to visit.

 One day, I wanted to find Mr. Vivian's gravesite.  He was my Speech and Drama teacher at Anderson College, and he believed that I had some acting and public speaking talents.  He was also the tour leader for our trip to Europe and Israel in 1973.  I set out to drive down to Anderson and found his grave next to his wife in a cemetery there.  I spent some time with him and thanking him for all he did for me.  I think it is important to thank those who have gone before you.  There was also a neat antique store I found coming back from Anderson.

 I had a friend who worked in Augusta, so I set out to go there.  I had a map of how to get there from Greenville.  It had me go through a lot of tiny towns.  When I got to Edgefield, the map had me go down a road and turn to the left.  When I did, I found myself on a dead end road with a lot of Confederate flags in the yards.  I had to turn around quickly.  Some of those places don't take kindly to strangers.  I found that out that night at White Oak, when we were on "Sherman's Road".  You can refer back to that story, too.  I found the road to take me to Augusta.  After visiting with my friend and going to another neat antique store, I headed back to Greenville.  I made that trip a few times.

 In between Greenville and Augusta is Greenwood.  The town where my father was born, and where my parents are buried.  I would stop at the small Magnolia Cemetery in downtown Greenwood to spend time with my parents.  I would clean the weeds from the stones surrounding the Durst family plot.  There is one spot left for me next to my Mother.  Please make sure they put me there one day.

 

Simpsonville

  I have a friend named Mary, and we have been friends since our days at Anderson College.  In 2008, she lived in Simpsonville, which is a town outside Greenville.  The city of Greenville would say it was a suburb, but the town would take exception to that.

 Mary lived in a gated community.  I would go over there to watch football on her cable TV or just to hang out.  She had a cat named Kit who I adored.  Mary would say that Kit would go hide when strangers came over, but she would just hop up on the couch and watch TV with me.  I guess I had a calming effect on her.  Mary was a teacher.  When she would leave for the day, she would put Animal Planet on the TV for Kit to watch and not be lonely.  She may even play classical music for her.  She seemed to like that.

 Mary also introduced me to shopping on a budget, including at Big Lots.  She was pretty frugal, and I became that way too.  It was all about what was on sale, generic items, and bargains.  She also knew that I was a big-time collector of pop culture.  A friend of hers was going to open up a craft and handmade jewelry store in downtown Simpsonville.  The downtown consisted of about three blocks with a railroad track running through the middle.  She needed a partner, so Mary went in with her.  I suggested that I could put in some of my autographed pictures of celebrities to bring in people.  They both agreed.

 The store had two rooms.  The main room had the crafts and jewelry.  The other room had my autographs.  It couldn't be seen easily from the main room, so I would have to show the customers where it was.  They were impressed with the selection from Dennis Hopper to Burt Lancaster to Gary Oldman and more.  I also had a section of college football coaches.  One was Mark Richt of Georgia.  A lady bought that.  The picture was inscribed to me.  After she left, she came back later and asked if I had an autographed picture without "To Walter".  I said no, and all sales were final.  She took it back.  Maybe she tried to erase the sharpie.  Another picture I had was Rep. Joe Wilson from the House of Representatives.  The mayor of Simpsonville came by and told me that he didn't know I was in Congress.  I had to tell him that the picture was of Joe Wilson.  He corrected his mistake.  Joe Wilson doesn't look a thing like me.

 The store was struggling, so we brought in artwork from a local painter.  The location of the store was great.  The people didn't come in.  I tried to tell them that they needed to run a sale to get people in the door, but the other owner (not Mary) was reluctant to do that.  The store eventually closed.  I had pulled my autographs out, and they used the space for other things.  I liked Simpsonville.  I like small towns like that, even though everybody knows about you, and there are no secrets.  I learned that, when I worked at White Oak.  "Did you hear about..."?

W.

  President George W. Bush was coming to Greenville in 2008 to speak at the Furman graduation.  There was a lot of hype over his visit, as well as protests.  Many students and faculty didn't want him to come.  Furman was a rather liberal school.  Since I had seen every President in my lifetime, except for JFK, I thought it would be perfect opportunity to continue my streak.

 The route was supposed to be secret.  He was either going to go by helicopter from the airport to Furman, or he was going to go by motorcade through downtown.  At the last minute, it was announced that it was going to be the motorcade.  I drove down to a corner near Furman to get my best look.  I found a group of spectators there with signs welcoming the President to Greenville.  I had heard that there would be a lot of protestors along the route, but this group was the only one with positive signs towards the President. They had been interviewed on TV as the only pro-Bush folks on the route.  I decided to hang out with them.

 There was a woman in the group whose husband was a police officer.  She was getting calls from him as to where the motorcade was.  There was also an officer with our group, and we could hear calls on his radio.  It was the group's goal to have him wave at us. We had heard that they were going 70mph through town.  The car would have to slow down at the intersection, because there was a dip in the road.

 We heard the sirens off in the distance.  Everyone got ready with their signs that greeted President Bush.  The motorcycles approached.  Then, the police cars came by.  Then, the two limos came toward the intersection.  The President would be in the second one.  They weren't slowing down.  We were waving.  We were waving our signs.  They weren't slowing down.  They took the dip in the road at 70mph.  Like a flash, they were gone.  I did get to see the President in his car for a split second.  He didn't wave at us. The group was disappointed.  If you blinked, you would have missed seeing him.

 They arrived at Furman.  Many of the students and faculty stood with their backs turned away from the President, as he was speaking.  I thought that was rude.  So did many others in town.  But, I did get to see Bush for a split second.  I can count that.