Ghost Writer

Stepping out onto an expanse of emerald green velvety turf and taking in a deep breath of slightly salt tanged air I felt all the side effects of jetlag draining away, I�d caught up with our man of the moment indulging in 1 of his favorite recreations and about to tee off at the local 18 hole golf course.

After both having fairly reasonable 1st strokes we made our approach shots and while Joe�s flew str8 as a die towards the putting green mine was accompanied by a large divot and went via the nearest bunker landing close by in a stand of evergreens.

Cussing softly & pretending not to notice the grin that Joe couldn�t quite hide as we strolled down to retrieve our balls for the next shot we spoke of our different lifestyles and some interesting facts emerged.

Joe was born on the west coast in Tacoma, WA and spent his formative years in Seattle, when he was 9 years old the family moved to Arkansas & he completed his high school education there though he was never entirely at home in the South & missed the �big city� atmosphere.

Vocational Tech was on the agenda next, as Joe had a clear idea of which direction he wanted his career to head & electronics was his chosen field of expertise, Baldwin Piano & Organ was his 1st employer after graduation and Joe was involved in sound filtering & generating wave shapes for electronic organs with some computer work done in the rhythm section.

He then enlisted and his skills saw him promoted to Sgt. following basic training, Joe spent 3 years living an army life with several trips overseas after which he left the services and returned to Baldwin, this time as a test engineer.

A company named Fairchild was experimenting with PC boards & Joe came to their notice when he purchased state of the art test equipment from them, they were pleased with the results he achieved and helped him move into a new position in Bellevue, WA with a firm called Advanced Technology Labs.

While with ATL Joe developed a tranducer for ultrasound equipment that eliminated all mechanical parts, cut costs on the initial purchase & gave a longer �working life� to the system, Fairchild was still in touch & at this point had asked him to join them.

The next seven years saw Joe move up fast in the company which had offices in 35 countries & he was promoted to Director of Internation Marketing.

Being based in England was a big change for him, he went through 2 passports in 3 years & clocked up 2 million miles of flying, visiting such places as Moscow & Beijing among many others but he was putting in 16 hour days and this left him without any time for a life away from work so Joe decided to leave it all behind
& return home to Washington.

We split apart here as Joe went to line up his chip shot onto the green & I dived into the shadows of overhanging branches to see what I could salvage of my poor shot, it took quite a while to find the ball as it had rolled into the undergrowth surrounding the bottom of a tree and as I bent down to pick it up there came a rustle in the bushes then a strange snuffling, grunting sound.

�Yikes!� I thought, slowly backing away, as soon as I judged I was far enough away not to be thought of as a threat I hightailed it for the nearest tree yelling for Joe to come quick, I could hear sticks breaking behind me & was imagining the hot breath on the back of my neck & the claws ripping into me as I was shinnying up towards the middle branches when a roar of laughter stopped me dead.

Looking over my shoulder I saw Joe doubled up holding his stomach, with tears leaking out the corners of his eyes, he wasn�t capable of speech all he could do was point so I took a peek down and instead of the monster I expected there was a bear cub no higher than my knees leaning nonchalantly
against the base of the tree.

Ocean Shores is the place Joe hangs his hat now, �ocean, trees, quiet & no stress� this description is borne out by the fact that the townsfolk share their living space year round with 20 black bears, �Oh, how I wish he�d introduced me to �Buster� before I made a spectacle of myself,� a herd of around 500 deer
and various other wild creatures.

At the same time Joe started an internet web hosting & design business he began a new career as a police officer, this was a fairly dramatic change & when I inquired about it Joe replied with a laugh,
�I always liked driving fast, I was fit at the time & figured
I could talk my way out of anything.�

He has a lot of respect for cops & even though much of his time is spent �working with angry people� Joe�s sunny nature reveals itself here, he believes everyone makes a decision every day when they wake up and start their day.

�You decide to have a good day and be nice or have a bad day and be dirty on the world,� Joe decides to have good days, he says �Even when some parts get bad you can still find a smile� and with that said his smile got even bigger,
�Now for the most important part!�

Like a lightning bolt from above the 1st time Joe saw Barb he knew, without even any eye contact or conversation being made, that
�She was for him & he was for her� he was spot on there as they married 3 months later & he says with pride �I love her more every day�.

Chica came into their lives shortly after & became the pinup girl at the new police station after being �booked in� and having her �mugshot� taken as the 1st �prisoner�, her original booking form & pictures are still on the notice board there, sadly, after being part of the family for 13 years & touching many hearts she recently passed away & is sorely missed.

Of course we talked about music & Joe had my foot tapping when he did a fine rendition of CCR�s �Lookin� out my back door� he likes almost all styles of music but leans towards the old rock & roll with the mellow tones of Neil Diamond being his choice as favorite singer.

Joe & Barb love to go camping though he says with a grin �The ground seems to be getting harder every year,� an evening dining out & taking in a movie is another thing they both enjoy along with spending some time online, their new friends in the UK Room are a big kicker and they have also made many friends in the spades community.

It was my privilege to have spent time talking to Joe, he has many qualities I admire, not least among those are his zest for living life to the fullest & a love of laughter which he often causes at his own expense.