[5/3/23] #26 - The Jones's Didn't Know Score Was Being Kept

[5/3/23] The Jones's Didn't Know Score Was Being Kept

My mother asks me to find the box of the DKNY. This particular shed has around 30 boxes. Some marked PB, (Pottery Barn) MISC, Chanel, Prada etc.

I leave the shed and walk into her back bedroom filled with broken antiques all in need of inexpensive repairs or something that didn't blend with the new tiles she had purchased.

This shed and 4 closets are filled to the brim. They sadden me and my 4 siblings to no end and if you do manage to sneak something out of the home to the donation center all the more reason to shop, shop and shop!

A few months ago I met with one of the biggest movers in our industry and was so taken back by his brilliance on everything. His knowledge was so motivating and inspiring.

Near the end of the meal he asked what I thought the biggest group in the country was betting in terms of money per week. He was perturbed by the idea they had guys in their office making more than him. He was working harder and deserved more.

As he pulled away after telling me of almost making his 7 figures a year it was clear he was chasing something not involving a ounce of happiness. Brilliant, empathetic, generous and sad.

My childhood best friend David was sentenced to 33 years a month ago and he will join a dear friend Denarius in someone I put money on the books of every Christmas.

David and I stopped speaking a couple years ago. He pulled up in Benz Jeep wagon one day, a range Rover the next and then randomly asked if he could hide a motorcycle or two in my backyard.

A kind kid but tough. Nice parents, upper middle class suburb living but he loved the streets and hated the idea of going to school.

I ran away, lived in weekly hotels and he went off to college. The smart money was on me doing the bid and him thriving.

As he once told me. My degree is in education bro. I'm a principal, I'm making 100k a year. I flip 3 pounds of shrooms a month and I make that.

I spoke with his sister briefly last week. Fentanyl dealers have sisters, mom's, 2 sons and a daughter many forget.. I did not.

As I raked grass seed and put down layers of new sod across the yard and the girl is putting the finishing touches on her flower bed I realized last year we are only doing this because our insane next door neighbor has a damn magazine cover of a Home & Garden Magazine front yard.

My best friend in gambling is a wildly successful engineer who also plays in the biggest poker games he can find. He owns the largest home in Boulder and that will never change due to zoning.

He got to play with his poker idol in a very decent sized mixed game at the Bellagio last year.

Idol was disinterested, barely played any hands & when my dear friend asked him a question he blew him off.

He tells me this story the next weekend still visibly upset. He just couldn't believe the audacity, the man not caring in that moment. All throughout dinner he wasn't himself. He was a curmudgeon at best.

I came back to this moment many times recently. I think I discovered it. It wasn't his idols lack of interest in the game or my friend at all.

My dear friend had played every weekend to get to the stakes of being able to play with the best.

The best didn't even pretend to care about those stakes, they didn't even acknowledge guys fawning and trying to spark a conversation but he deserved their best game, their ear and wisdom.. that's what he had been chasing all these years.

My mom lives next to Suzie and Dave Jenkins estimates worth around 400 million. Their tennis courts that are now my mom's view underlooking Pikes peak & the incline were built to protect his Porsche collection underground.

My mom goes to bed every night at 7 pm she reads for a hour. She reads craiglist, Facebook shopping app and she uses name brand key word searches. Except Friday...

Has to be up at 5 am and starts her drive to Denver and the Cherry Creek and Park Hill neighborhoods.

She scouts out which homes listed on the garage/estate sales apps are the wealthiest, have the best layouts and at 9 am she much like a drug addict scores her newest purses, dresses, shoes and antiques.

She works as a social worker, year 33 but when she drives past Suzie and her maid/caretaker on their balcony. My mom feels equal. Wearing the same brands after all.

Here's the catch. Mrs. Jenkins is 85 has cataracts and doesn't know my mom's first name even after 27 years of being neighbors. Never has acknowledged her.

My neighbor with the pristine yard came over a few months ago to help us shovel a few people out of a bad snow storm. He was going through a divorce, wife left him and he was devastated it turns out. 2 years I broke my back keeping up with this guy. He's dating now, yard looks like shit. We now know each other's name. I don't have to refer to him as MF'ing golf course yard guy.

David will spend 33 years or until he dies in grey walls wondering why he didn't just become a teacher, principal or anything that wouldn't land him where he is now. Why did he have to have 3 100k cars, a 2 year old with a 40k Tiffany's bracelet?

The mover will wake up possibly wealthier every year and add guys like me who will with any luck help him get there quicker. He will remain chasing others success thinking it's a competition but at some point realize they don't know who he is, nor do they care and with any luck at all he will realize this sooner than later.

I'm coming off a losing NBA season. First ever and it hurts. I'll talk about it candidly in time but I know there was a time in the season that I was definitely playing to a crowd... They had no idea.

Be good to yourself and those who love you. Life in my eyes isn't a competition but a gathering or collection of beautiful moments. Capturing them is the harder part of the puzzle.

Until next time. Thank you as always to all for the space. Your friend, Eddie