The last week of my freshman year of high-school, my dad sat down at the dinner table and said “Andrew, I found you a job. You start at five a.m. on Monday. You are going to be a custodians assistant at the high-school.” For the next three summers I worked at the school. We moved desks, painted fences, pulled carpet, raced down the hallways, hid in a classroom to watch Armageddon (at which point we all gave each other nicknames from the movie, I was Harry), changed the lightbulbs in the gym, painted the gym floor and anything else they told us to do. We worked with Chip.
Chip had graduated from our school years ago. I am not sure when he became the custodian, but he was a part of our school and our community. He was there for our morning basketball practices and there when we lost our basketball games on Saturday nights. He knew everything about that school. He was always helpful and if he ever had a bad day he wouldn’t let it show. Chip was one of the nicest guys I have had the pleasure of knowing. I learned from Chip and will miss him.
