Bein’ Almost Andy

I suspect that by now, most of our readers know that I play the role of Almost Andy, an old coot who looks very much like Andy Griffith and shows up at some Mayberry events wearing a seersucker jacket possibly looking enough like Matlock to satisfy most. Occasionally I do some stand up comedy on the funny situations I encounter being mistaken for Andy Griffith. On more structured occasions I do a program titled An Evening With Almost Andy.  I started doing this shortly after my 80th birthday and it has been a hoot. After forty years as a professional “motivational humorist”, mostly specializing in corporate safety and doing from sixty to ninety minutes presentations it comes as sort of a shock to hear that I have a minute and a half on a program but with so many folks onstage it just makes good sense. The fact that I had spent almost two days rubbing elbows and posing for photos with most of this audience made it all the more understandable. What I did say came from my heart and it covered the fact that I felt truly blessed to be with them and that I felt honored to be with so many folks that walked the talk. I got to shake hands with so many old folks and with special children and with folks of all ages from all walks of life who’s mutual interest was watching The Andy Griffith Show. We had two parades and I got to ride up high in the back of a convertible with a beautiful queen next to me and the town mayor up front.  Barney and Gomer and Floyd and some of the others were walking and Charlene was in another convertible up front with Rodney Dillard, one of the Darlings on that show. Now I know that a lot of you would rather go to the beach or the mountains or the race track or such but for me and my lady, we had more fun than most folks our age have on a weekend and we truly feel  blessed.