Jax Beach Jimmy
What a strange wonderful trip its been.
I’ve been promising myself that I would bring jimsjoint back to life in some form or another. There is so much that has happened the last few years that I have neglected to comment on for one reason or another. Then a couple of months ago I at least attempted to start a new page that could document our life here in Florida. Then it was a matter of where to start. In my mind it should start with our cross country drive from Fremont to Live Oak. I will tell that story here soon. Also the great 18 months we lived with Kate and Frank and Parker in our new 38 foot travel trailer and the times with Parker for those first 6 months that I wasn’t working. So much fun! Or how about my great job with the Florida Highway Patrol? So many stories to tell. Our house hunting that resulted in us living at the beach! Our wonderful new friends and neighbors. Where to begin? Where to Begin?
All of these were worthy starting points for the new jimsjoint, but for some reason I still didn’t feel like the Jax Beach Jimmy that I needed to be. Then I landed a sweet little “glide into retirement” job here at the beach and I felt that I was finally home. Talk about luck of the Irish. My dream had been to work my last years in the work force close to home. Someplace low stress and rewarding. Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s would have been cool, but our local liquor store seemed like a cool gig. I emailed the company and asked if they were hiring at the Jacksonville Beach Store. Within 10 minutes I got a reply telling me to call the manager. They offered me the job after the interview. Broudy’s Liquors is a family owned chain of 5 stores, mostly in St Augustine. The Jax Beach store is great. Right on the border of Jax Beach and Ponte Vedra. Broudy’s motto is Life’s short, Drink Better. To that end they carry a great selection of beer, wine and liquor. You can buy a $2 can of Bud Light or a $3800 bottle of scotch. I’m so lucky to be working there. A great bunch of guys are teaching me the business. The cool thing is that Broudy’s has a drive thru! Thanks to friends and neighbors Cory and Maria for snapping the photo of me working the drive through!!
So my little retirement gig (hey! I’m only 62 so still a few more years until REAL retirement) is perfect. Only a mile and a half from home to work (instead of 82 miles when doing the FHP commute) and only 4 minutes when I hit all the lights green!! Compared to 80 minutes doing the FHP commute. I haven’t filled the tank in the truck for two months!! Barb and I are grateful to Kate and Frank for the hospitality, the FHP for taking a chance on me, for the support from family and friends from afar. So we are really settling in to beach life now and that’s where we will start our blog. We’ll look back and look forward to bridge all the gaps from “our life and times in the wild wild west” to #jaxbeach jimmy.
We are home!!
