Buttermilk and a NyQuill Chaser

Something reminded me of a friend a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to video blog tonight, so this story will have to suffice.

My friend’s name was Ryan but everybody knew him as “Buttermilk” or “Butter.” Unfortunately, Butter passed away several years after we were out of college. I can’t remember how he died, other than it was an illness. I didn’t even hear about his death until maybe a month after he was gone. So, I missed the funeral. In fact, I don’t recall any contact with Butter after I left Tech in 1980.

I met Butter the fall of 1977 when I enrolled at Tech. He was a couple of years older than me, but he was one of the guys that I immediately “hit it off with.” Every time I saw Butter, he had three things; and usually he was holding them in one hand…an open beer, a lit cigarette, and a pack of Marlboros. And Butter was usually laughing about something. He found the humor in life like I do.

Here’s what made me remember Butter. Angie was going through some old cd’s and found Bob Seger’s greatest hits. Seger has a song called “Turn The Page” which incidentally was Buttermilk’s favorite song back in college.

One winter night, Buttermilk called the fraternity house and I happened to answer the phone. "Catfish, I need someone to come over to the Pondarossa” (a nickname he and some other buddies called the house they rented). “I’m out here by myself and I’m drunk and I need some help.” Well, honestly, I was kind of scared. Butter could “tie one on” like the best of them and I didn’t have a clue what kind of help he needed. Having to deal with somebody as drunk as he sounded didn’t appeal to my good senses at that moment. At any rate, I took the 15 minute drive to the Pondarossa.

I found Buttermilk slumped over, half-sitting and half-lying on the floor, next the foosball table. He was happily inebriated and smoking away on his much-loved Marlboros. In the background was a cassette tape playing Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page.” Well, the “help” Butter needed was rewinding the tape. He had gotten so drunk that he couldn’t rewind the cassette to the exact point where the song began. While I was there, I must have rewound that tape a dozen times or more. “Turn The Page” was burned indelibly into my mind that night. During that time, Butter rambled on about life, school, and anything else that popped into his beer-soaked head. Finally he told me “Catfish, I need to get in bed. Can you get my NyQuil?” Turns out that Butter would take a shot of NyQuil every night before he went to bed. How he stomached the beer with a NyQuil chaser I don’t know. But he poured it down, climbed into bed, and was snoring before I left the room.

I don’t really have a point to this story other than to say how interesting our memories are. Isn’t it awe-inspiring how one song can remind you of something that happened so long ago. All of a sudden, you’re transported back in time and your memories seem so vivid…as if it just happened. I’d like to think that Butter would be tickled that I still find humor in everything. In fact, I hope we can share a laugh together someday in heaven.