And Then Sam Showed Up.
I have to share this story, as it completely blew my mind and has me in stitches... yes, stitches… which is a pun that you’ll understand in a minute. But first, a bit of the backstory...
The lengths my pals go to for me has no end, just no end as the passing of time continues to demonstrate. I could tell story after story about how this collection of knuckleheads, that started out over 20 years ago as my engine design colleagues, has rarely missed a day of jousting with one another. And that’s no exaggeration, not one day passes where we’re not showcasing our love for one another which is typically in the form of head kicks or piling onto someone within our circle. These clowns are as close to me as family, and I mean that literally. Without them the job satisfaction I’ve had at Ford Motor Company would be non-existent. We worked together in the same organization for 10+ years and that timeframe was unlike any other point in my career. We worked hard together, complimented one another’s skill sets, rowed the same way, and played just as hard together. The stars aligning for that to occur, and going on for so long in the workplace, is truly rare and once in a lifetime. I think they also recognize and appreciate it as well. And although we’re separated now and in unique places within the mothership of FoMoCo, our band remains stronger than ever.
So back to the story at hand. Sweaters and unicorns. There's this quirky guy I follow on Instrgram, Sam Barsky, who creates very unique hand knitted sweaters. Me following him is weird, yes, I know… I won’t even mention Tumbleweed Tommy. I enjoy and share Sam’s happiness-laden videos constantly with my pals for laughs. I’ve been doing it almost daily for months. They don’t admit it, but I know they also harbor a secret appreciation of sweaters and dare I say an anticipation of when I’ll share Sam’s next video post.
Two days ago, I received a suspicious email from “smartypants29” which almost caused me to send it to junk status, until I noticed the subject line, “Sam’s Greeting.” And given I only know one person named Sam, my sweater knitting superhero, the temptation to open it was overwhelming. Overwhelming. But I didn’t swallow what I thought to be obvious phishing bait, I went to bed and let it lie. However, come yesterday morning the lure was just too great, I couldn’t take the anxiety any longer. I risked it all, I threw caution to the wind and figured that if all of Nigeria was to get every bit of my personal information, my financial portfolio status, my Swiss back account passwords, then Hell’s bells. I deemed it worth the risk. I opened the email.
And to what I can only describe as childish joy, like when I was a boy and received that Big Track programmable robot toy for Christmas, there in front of my eyes was Sam Barksy with a personalized video. If that wasn’t enough, he was wearing my favorite creation in his fashionable collection - The Unicorn Sweater. My pals had without doubt reached out to Mr. Barsky, and somehow motivated him to create this video and send it to me as a surprise. I don’t think I want to know what it took from them to convince Sam to do this, or the story they must have unfolded about me. Just when I thought life wasn’t already over the top, sharing it with these pals of mine who I couldn’t imagine doing life without, Sam Barsky shows up in it. God keeps smiling down on me in the most hilarious ways.
I’m certain I’ll never get tired of watching this video, absolutely certain of it in fact. It’s just too dang funny not to share! Viva la Sam!
