Well, they say that the number “8” is fortunate, and I guess they must be right, because on 8/8/08 we were very FOURtunate to have a whopping FOUR unexpected C4OA members visit our store...
The morning started out the same, and while we were going about our normal, day-to-day duties, I received a call from a Mr. Michael Parrott, one of our outstanding C4OA members. Michael has this “thing” about announcing himself (and his location) whenever he calls to speak to us. It usually goes something like “Hi, this is Michael Parrot calling from paradise.” This time, however, he told us exactly what we were expecting when he said, “Hey, this is Michael Parrott calling from Las Vegas, can I speak with Rusty?” (Vegas is his hometown, so this just seemed normal to us...)
After Rusty spoke to him for a few minutes, Rusty informed me that he and Michael had been cut off due to a bad cell phone connection, and that I should be expecting another call from him shortly. Within minutes, the doorbell at our little shop rang, and lo and behold—Michael Parrott strolled right on in with a big smile on his face! (Wait... didn’t he just say he was in Las Vegas?!?)
Now, as if this wasn’t surprising enough, less than 30 seconds later, Mr. Otto Klay waltzed in right behind Michael! Rusty, Marie, and I all thought that this was a setup between Michael and Otto, but we soon learned that it was purely coincidental that they both arrived at the same time.
As with any surprise, Rusty got the camera out, and took a few pictures of our guests. I got to tour them around for a few minutes, and Rusty filled them in on his Baltimore trip and all the goings-on around Reno and the in coin world. As they all were all “talking coins,” in walks another C4OA member, Mr. Pete Plath. Little did he know, he was running late to this party!
From an outsider’s perspective, it was like viewing four kids in a toy store—they were all excited to see what the others had, as well as share stories about toys (nay, coins) they once had, or were looking to purchase in the future.
Now, as this all went on in the showroom of the store, Crystal, Marie, and I were all chowing-down on some tasty Olive Garden food in honor of Free Lunch Friday. We made sure to order an extra pizza for Michael, since we knew he was going to be with us all day—After all, he’s not exempt from the Free Lunch Friday!
Just as we were finishing lunch, the doorbell rang once more. I intercepted it, and greeted a nicely-dressed woman, asking to speak to Rusty. Since asking to speak to Rusty is typically an unusual request from someone that we’ve never seen before (or we’ve not been briefed might call or visit) I asked for her name. She introduced herself as Lora Robins from New York. Now... why did that sound familiar? I know, I’d just received news from our C4OA Treasurer, Paul Sudmeier, that Lora Robins had just renewed her membership in C4OA!
After introducing Lora to Marie, I snuck over to Rusty and his gang to let him know that we had another C4OA member in the store today! Needless to say, they were all as floored as I was. Rusty excused himself from “the boys” for a few minutes to meet with yet another C4OA member. They spoke for quite some time, and then, after Pete, Otto, and Lora filed out, Michael and Rusty spent the rest of the day immersed in coins and C4OA business (after a brief timeout for lunch).
It all just goes to show how small our world is. It isn’t every day that this many friends and C4OA members stop by to visit. But I guess that since it was considered a day of fortune, it was a day that worked in everyone’s favor. Each one of them would have been happy just seeing the store and Rusty, but I think that their all meeting together was a little more than they expected, and perhaps a bit lucky...
Many thanks to the C4OAers that showed up to brighten our day here at the shop, and thanks also to all of you faithful weblog readers who tell us you enjoy reading about the happenings around here. We’ve certainly had lots going on this month!
For everyone in our area, we hope you all enjoyed those "Hot August Nights." I know we all loved the interesting traffic mix around Reno! And, by the way, another C4OAer, Mr. Roger Pollock, dropped by last week to show us his 1967 Ford Fairlane. We figured you'd want to see a picture of Roger and his classic car even though he had arrived a day early for our "party."
Until next time,
Maya