Monday, January 8, 2024

The Great William Ginn (Oops, Maybe I Shouldn't Use His Real Name)

 Among us, mere mortals (humans) walks a man who is by far, by so very far, greater and more radiant than any of us has a right to consider him or herself.  His name is William Ginn. No, this is not a Billy, Bill, or Willie, this man is the real McCoy - - or Ginn. He's a real Ginn.  He's apt to be titled really, maybe deserving to be called "Sir William Ginn", which now that I think about it, he very well could have been. His mother may have actually called him that as a child, which would explain at least a little of his behavior.

    I worked with the man, the legend, for only a few short months between May 2015 and March 2016. We were officed in the same space and we worked for the same agency through our state's government. I'll protect him further now, by not telling you what agency it is, but he is a full-blown Director. He's that important; we'll just leave it at that.

    When I worked there, he was a director as well, but I didn't work for him, only with him. I would have given anything to have worked for him because then I would have given him the title of my favorite boss. He does hold the title of my favorite co-worker, and that's saying something considering how many jobs I've had and how many co-workers I've worked with. To be #1 takes a lot of conning and let me tell you, this man is that man.

    The director I worked for, and subsequently, the same man that Ginn worked with (not necessarily for) was a con artist in my humble opinion, and I couldn't stand him. I couldn't stand to look at him. I couldn't stand to hear him. I couldn't stand to say I was his admin - - he repulsed me. The ONLY thing that kept me at the office every day was the bright and sunny smile of the man whom I give homage to; Mr. William "Sassy Pants" Ginn. 

    Ginn would show up and we'd have a bit of a ritual every day, several times a day. We'd say certain things to make each other laugh. He had a particular chair in his office that he would fantasize that a certain someone (I won't give his secrets away too easily) would one day sit in. I would pretend to be that woman, and make him giggle. Ginn could giggle. He was a master of the craft.  When I say I only stayed to be near him I mean it. I wasn't in love with him, (sorry William) but I was in love with his heart, his mind, his intellect, his being, his attitude, his moxie. 

    If we never meet again this side of Heaven, we will be linked arm and arm up on Glory Street, skipping and laughing, I know it. He has traveled the entire world by himself, and on his own, taking with him his can-do attitude; sometimes scaring the living tar out of me when he would travel about because he couldn't text or use a smartphone to save his life. Here he would go into the depths of the forests and wildlands of Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, and other places....Peru, I think, and he would do it without a means to communicate!! 

    When I met the man he was OLD...we'll just let that one sit right there. He knows it, I know it, we all know it. He started working for the state when he was just out of high school I think, right around the time Teddy Roosevelt signed Oklahoma into statehood in 1907. Don't quote me, but Ginn is over the hill, OK. He's old. The thing is, I'm about to go into semi-retirement and he's working every day. He told me today that he's working to pay for his traveling; he's got more to do apparently.

    Well, just so you know, and you should know, I wish the best for my buddy, my pal, my tea-drinking friend of yesteryear. I can't wait to skip the golden streets with him and make silly faces at those we never believed could have made it to the pearly gates!! I'm that type, and thankfully, so is he!

Blessings my friend. Enjoy your next 178 years!!! You Rock!


Photo Credit: Displate.com  (This is the best picture of William Ginn I could find)

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