Come on in Gary!

 

Come on in Gary


    This humorous event lived on way past the 1969 words of my girlfriend's father who greeted me inaccurately but enthusiastically at my initial visit to court his daughter. I met Nancy at a party at Billy Hogan's pad that Summer and was smitten immediately. She was working at Two Guy's department store with Stephanie Knowlton who brought her to the fete on Bowman avenue. I thought I was pretty cool as I had just returned from a trip to Europe and was attending UCLA during the tumultous times back Summer of Love adjacent. I was able to get up enough courage to ask out the sweet faced Miss Brian and drove over to North Downey to pick her up for our first night on the town. Her Dad Robert Brian (no relation to Bobcat Brian) was a friendly and gregarious man with no pretentions and a fondness for cold beer. Nancy had recently jettisoned another BF and was giving me a shot. She let her Pop know this guy named Glen would be coming around 6 pm. Nancy was getting dolled up in the bathroom like girls did at the time, I arrived nervously and came to the door whereupon the man of the house bellowed "NANCY! Gary's Here! Nancy laughed her unique laugh and the sentence stayed in the vernacular for years, even after she gave me my walking papers. Cut to La Crescenta and the Sheehy home on Francis where I visited regularly throughout the 1990's into the 2020's Whenever, I arrived at the front door approaching "the mat" as it was called Greg always boomed "COME ON IN GARY!!!" It was a tradition he never failed to observe.





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