HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY! 10/2/08

Happy Birthday Jerry Hopkins!

Today is Jerry's Birthday and he is a good friend of the family. I would have to say I've known Jerry since I was about 10 years old. Honestly, I really can't ever remember not knowing him. We met when my Dad first started with the Orange County Sheriff Reserves.

I have many memories of Jerry but the one that comes to mind always is this one specific trip when we went out on his boat. We had gone out many times before but this trip was extra special...... Let me set the scene so you can get the full just of this trip..... Here we are all ready to have a nice relaxing time out on the boat with the guys fishing and us girls sunning, reading, talking, etc...... We started having trouble with the boat not good since it was actually getting really choppy on the water. It was a very HOT beautiful sunny day. But like I said they were having some trouble with the boat so you could smell gas really bad inside of the boat and they had to keep opening the bottom thus doing so from the inside of the boat.... Needless to say I started not feeling so well smelling this and then combined with the choppy waters so I decided to go outside and hang out for a little while and hopefully enjoy the fresh air. By this time I had waited a little too long to make my way to the outside of the boat to try and enjoy some of the fresh air since my tummy wasn't feeling so well. So the next thing you know I'm leaning over the boat getting sick (as Jerry and my Dad were so kind to clarify I was actually chumming for fish). At this time it didn't help that the guys were fishing and caught a big fish that was not happy to be on board and was crashing against the sides of the boat and getting blood everywhere. Don't forget the boat is still having trouble so you can smell gas and the waters are all choppy. So the entire remainder trip I was chumming for fish and once we docked I had the worst sun burn from sitting on the deck hanging my head over the side chumming and the most fabulous hairdo to boot. Jerry never let me forget this WONDERFUL day out on the boat......

I still love you Jerry and wish you all the best. May all your wishes come true you deserve it!