Things remembered at 1:20 am

It is 1:20 am in a hospital room.  Yes, it is true I can't sleep.  Yes, it is true Jimmy is snoring too loud.  Yes, it is true we have been here for three nights.  And yes, it is true I am very ready to get back home......

Like so many moments peppered across my personal history, I am sitting here enjoying mini-flashes of the life I have led.  

Example #1:

1989, West Germany, Uncle M's house.  My friends and I were on a 4 day break, and had been drinking.  The four of us were laughing and having a good time.  We started playing a drinking game called "sevens".  It kind of goes from person to person counting.  When the number gets to a number containing 7 or a number divisible by 7 that person says "beep" and the order reverses.  If you make a mistake you have to take a shot or (if you have had too much to drink) you can take a dare.  One of my friends took a dare right away, we will call him Ken.  Ken chose a dare over the shot, since he was already in the wind (so to speak).  Dean dared Ken to go outside and come back with two potatoes.  I have no idea where the dare came from, or the story behind it, but at least it kept the game going and Ken would get some fresh air.  The night went on, and at about 5 the next morning, we realized that Ken had not returned.  We opened the front door to see him laying face down on the cobblestones, butt naked, with a potato in each hand.  We took one photo.  While we were standing there, the elderly lady from across the street hobbled over.  She bent down, picked up the potato's, put them both in her apron pocket, smacked the back of his head and then walked away.  We never found his clothes.  Ken remembers nothing of this incident, and it is still a mystery as to how he came to be resting at that location and in that position.  He still believes it to be the work of UFO's.  This moment became known as "The Great Potato Raid of 89". 

Example #2:

1991, Washington State, dorms.  I was jolted from sleep by the most heinous of sounds.  A whaling so mortifying that Zeus himself would have recoiled.  I darted to the hallway only to be accosted by another round of hideous caterwauling.  The incessant yowling had drawn others to the hallway as well.  We had discovered the source of the screeches from right next door to my room.  John and some woman both ran stark naked to the floors bathroom.  As the crowd stood in shock, I thought it best to at least get a towel for the poor woman (showering in a mens dorm.....).  I opened the door slightly and tried to yell over the argument that had begun in there.  "I have a towel for you Miss".  Then the line that answered everyones question.  "Who the hell mistakes Ben-gay and KY???"  My work there was done.