Dad used to

say to me, "Never say never. When you say you'll never do something

then that is exactly what you wind up doing."

One thing he

said he would never do was to ever live at the beach. He told us that

he lived in Florida on an army base for two years and would never do it

again. Whenever we vacationed in Florida, all we ever heard was about

that time he spent at the army base, how sand got into everything, and

how he would never live in Florida again.

Dad has retired

for some time now and lives in a condo in Panama City Beach, Fla. Never

say never.

As far back

as I can remember, we had a family dog, but it was never allowed in the

house. If we tried to sneak the dog inside to play with it, Dad would

always catch us and say, "All animals belong outside and people belong

inside." (Guess that's why we did not go on camping trips when I

was growing up.)

He said that

dogs inside would have everything covered in hair and the first thing

that people would smell when they came into the house would be the dog.

"Dogs bring in fleas and ticks and track dirt through out the house,"

he used to say.

The only animal

we had in the house was a white cat, but it did not last long with four

boys. We never had any other animal inside the house when I was growing

up. (Well, we did have a green parakeet that ate hushpuppies off of dad's

head, but that is a story for Father's Day.)

When Dad moved

to Florida, the first thing he did was to go out and buy two dogs. For

the last ten years, he has had both dogs living inside of his condo. Snuggles

and Cuddles are the cutest poodles you have ever seen. Never say never.

When I was

young Mom was always telling me to clean up my room, turn my socks right

side out, and make up my bed before coming down for breakfast. Mom also

told me to never leave the house wearing dirty underwear. She said I needed

to have clean underwear on in case I was to get into an accident. (I have

transported many people to the hospital from fires, motor vehicles crashes,

and their homes, and not once during the primary or secondary surveys

have I checked for dirty underwear.)

As I said,

"Yes, Mama," I would mumble to myself and promise that if I

ever had kids they would never have to clean their rooms or turn socks

right side out or make their beds. I told Mom that making up my bed seemed

to be dumb and made no sense to me, 'cause you're going to be right back

in it at bedtime anyway. She did not see my point of view, and when I

got off of restriction for sassing her, I promised myself that my kids

would never have to make up their beds.

Thirty-two

years later, I tell my son before he leaves for school to make sure his

room is clean, his socks are turned right side out before he throws them

in the vicinity of the laundry room floor, and make sure to make up his

bed. Never say never. (I'm fairly sure he wears clean underwear.)

When I was

eight, my dad said it was a good idea to "get into the stock market."

He helped us each to buy $500 of stock in a little local Georgia company.

After a year of losing his money, he said that we would never make big

money on the stock. We all sold our shares and bought different things

for our rooms. I bought a quadraphonic stereo system that only worked

correctly if you had music that was recorded in quadraphonic.

They stop recording

music quadraphonicly two years later; the stereo lasted for four. Thirty-five

years have gone by, and I think that our $500 of stock would have grown

to over $950,000 (give or take a couple $100,000 or so). That little local

company was Coca Cola, and Cokes were five cents a piece. Never say never.

When I went

to the doctor ten years ago to get a vasectomy, he asked me if I was ever

going to have any more children - if there were even a remote chance of

additional little ones in my future. I told him, "I will never have

additional children."

When my divorce

was final many years ago, my friends all said that true happiness is hard

to find and if it comes your way you'll never he able to hold on to it.

I thought that I would never get married again or be able to find someone

who would care for me as much as I cared for her. I knew that I would

never find that special person who would love my son as her own and help

me raise him the rest of the way.

I have been

married for almost three years now, and I'm holding on as hard as I can.

Never say never.

I will visit

the doctor on Valentine's Day. I will have a three-hour operation. We're

going to try to have children. I'll never say never again.

[Rick Ryckeley

is employed by the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

He can be reached at [email protected] .]