D.I.Y Ethics and Buddy Hacket with the old guys.

Some of my favorite memories of my father are when we simply sit and talk. Include his best friend and my adopted "Uncle" Stanley and a few cocktails and you have yourself a quite a night to remember.

These two have known each other since middle school, were best friends throughout high school and college and if it wasn't for Stanley, I can honestly say I would not exist. It was his persuasive nudge that pulled my father to Cal State Long Beach where he joined a fraternity, met my mother and fell in love. They started and ran a business together for twenty plus years and even look alike with matching beards and bellies. Their friendship is one for the ages.

These Jack Daniels infused nights usually include politics and other topics I have no interest in, yet I sit there, smiling quietly in the corner, waiting for something familiar to come out of their mouths.
"Don't hold dick. Make radio." My dad says while gesturing to something upwards.
Not even close. I continue to smile and sip my drink while they both giggle like the Catholic school boys they still are.
Jokes like that are scattered in with the conversation. Some I know from past conversations, while others are inside jokes I may never understand.
My father later explains that it is an old Buddy Hacket joke from his lounge days.

Every so often the topic changes to something I not only understand, but can take part in. Me!
I am, by far, my uncle's favorite. (So says dad.) Favorite what? I'm not sure. Neice, relative, girl, person? The world may never know. What is for certain is that I most definitely am the favorite. A title I have earned, by the way. From working at the offices of their shared business, moving from office to office, babysitting grandchildren to just being amazing. Some say I could even pull off being my uncle's kid. It'd be an honor, I tell ya!

"Riddle me this, Batman." says my uncle to pose a new topic. Most likely another I have no investment in. Yet there I sit and sip and smile while my two favorite men converse. One day, I will tell my children about these precious moments spent with my father and uncle, just as they talk about their long-since passed fathers.

A re-occuring theme I catch onto is that of Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) ethics. Proposed means of fixing certain political situations is the idea of giving those less fortunate the opporunity to help themselves. Republicans that we are, we don't do a lot of hand outs, rather hand ups. For example, we talked about daycare and how those on welfare or unemployment should get free daycare for their kids. Instead of putting money into that, why not encourage them to run their own daycares, which will bring income as well as pay a certain amount for each kid present, making it cheaper for others to put their children into daycare. Run your own business, get government funding and deal with everything else locally.
I am a great enthusiast of D.I.Y. ethics, being the music mogul that I am, and I believe that that idea can transcend into other aspects. It was mostly just great to hear how it could work outside of the music industry.
Doing things yourself gives you a feeling of accomplishment no hourly job could ever fulfill. From owning your own business to fixing your own car. It's all about you!

With exchanges of graditude and adoration, my uncle departs once again, leaving my family in this post-Stanley glow. A feeling that no one could replace.