THE BUDDY SYSTEM

We are heading to College Station next weekend to celebrate best buddy Tim's 60th birthday, and it got me to thinking...about an eye-opening conversation we had not long ago. For more than 30 years I've been under the impression that we and the Sanfords both ran around in the same crowd, and lived in the same world, when we met in Bahrain. Just recently, however, I discovered that was not the case at all. The lightbulb didn't go off until we told them about hooking up with the Weirichs recently, and finding out about an upcoming reunion. "Hey, none of the guys I hung out with are gonna be there," Tim replied with a laugh. "Hell, most of em are probably dead by now!"

It took me a few days to muddle this out, but finally I got the picture. You see, the way things were with life on an offshore platform, John and Tim were kind of like bisexuals - they could go either way. They had one foot in each of two different worlds, but they each had their primary foot in opposite worlds.

Tim was the safety expert offshore. It was his job to keep everyone alive, and believe you me, that was no easy task with that wild and wooly bunch! Most of the guys working on the platforms had come over on single status, were making more money than they ever dreamed possible, and when they got their one week of shore-leave, they were like cowboys hitting the saloon after a long cattle drive. Tim only worked offshore, so these were his primary friends, but when he got his shore-leave, he went home to his sweet little kindergarten-teaching wife, who lived on the company compound with all the other married-status people. So of course, he socialized with both groups. I used to get jealous because Paula got invited to so many more parties than me - and some pretty wild ones at that - but never really stopped to figure out why. I just thought we must be too boring!

Unlike Tim, John originally worked in the office with guys who pretty much all came over on married status, some even bringing kids. Although we opted out of moving to the company compound when it was completed, choosing instead to "mingle with the natives," these were still the people that we hung out with. It wasn't until months later, that John was assigned to do a stint offshore. I was pretty nervous when I found out about it. He tried to reassure me by saying "Don't worry, we engineers have a low mortality rate," but then he spoiled it by mumbling "long as we don't piss off a construction foreman." Now I'm sitting here wondering if maybe it wasn't just lucky chance that gave him Tim as a roommate. I'm thinking maybe someone was smart enough to realize, if anyone could babysit a rookie engineer and keep him safe, it would be Tim Sanford. The nick-names should have tipped me off. Tim and all the others had tough sounding names like Tex, Toad, and Redbeard, while everyone called my hubby "John Boy." So thanks a million Tim, for bringing my baby back home in one piece. I am forever in your debt.

Top photo: Paula and Tim (aka Toad)
Bottom: Me and John Boy