Today marks the second anniversary of Lanny's passing. As promised, I took a moment to stop and honor his memory and share this day yet again with him. We could all do well in these divisive times to remember Lanny, an upstanding man who brought humor and compassion with him wherever he went. He was man of great empathy even and especially for those he did not agree with. We can learn much from that and in fact seem to be in great need of it these days. We were lucky to have him here for the time we did. Miss you Lanny, my friend. The forum misses you. I hope his wife Tammy is well. So raise a glass to kind Lanny today! Here's to you Lanny!
There wasn't a time when I was with Lanny when he wouldn't cause me to burst out laughing. I remember I once went to his house to help him with something. As thanks, he and Tammy were going to take me out to lunch. We went to Busters, each of us getting a try of meaty BBQ delights, and we slid our trays to the register. As the lady started to ask how many of us were together and what we ordered, Lanny interrupted her and said he wanted to buy a gift card. Okay says the lady, I can just add it to your bill. No, I want to do it separately. The lady then asks what amount he wants on the gift card. He tells her (I can't remember exact numbers) $37.80. She looks at him oddly, I look at him oddly, the people behind him look at him oddly. $37.80 she asks. Yes, $37.80. She then tells Lanny that Busters is having a special and everyone who buys a gift card gets a 20% bonus added to it, so your gift card will have a balance of $45.36. Lanny pays for it and puts it on his tray. Finally, with the line piling up behind us, the lady rings up our food. The total... $45.35. Lanny hands her the gift card and walks off.
Thanks for your service Lanny! Not just to your country but everyone and anyone that came into your life! You're a #LegendLanny.
He seemed gentle and loving. One time I posted one sharp word in response to him, he was apologetic and almost hurt, so I never posted any disagreement to him again. Also smart, to a decimal place. If he'd been smart to 2 decimal places, he'd have bought the card for $37.79 not $37.80...37.79 + 20% = 45.348. The invention of pocket calculators made us lose our mental arithmetic. In about 1971 in Southern California, I was in a taco stand drive-up. My order was for something like 78 cents. I looked over my cash and instantly handed him nickels, 8 pennies, dimes, etc. I needed to consolidate into a quarter. He returned from the cash register a minute later, his confusion solved, handed me one quarter, and said, "Sir, it's customers like you who make my day."
That sounds too simple. Must have been more money. I probably pushed back my 2-foot long hair to instantly surmise my coins, handed him like $1.23 or $2.23 in coins, and got back a quarter and a bill or two. Okay this story is getting more colorful as I embellish it. Lanny and I worked at Boeing, he an electrical engineer like my little brother and me in accounting only a couple of years there. Never met him. Brother, Riverman's exact age to the month, died when Riverman was so ill a couple of years ago. Sounds like astrology. Lanny was a gentle spirit.
