By Jim Pilgrim

I really look forward to the rare times I get to work in the field with our customers. Just the other day I had one of those opportunities. I’m not as young as I used to be and will be turning 53 later this year.

North Carolina in the summer is a bit warm and the day I scheduled to do some outside work with our customer was 100 degrees with 70% humidity. I probably should have waited until fall. But with age comes wisdom. We decided as warm as it was going to get, we should get started early in the morning and with good luck, and we would be done before the thermometer reach triple digits. We had 3 sites to visit. The first 2 went pretty quick and were in the shade of some tall trees. The last site was going to take a little longer and it was located in an open area in full sun.

Since Jonathan and I were driving around town in a bucket truck, we decided to use our brains and put the bucket up and created our own shade. Thanks Jonathan for the brilliant idea. We finished our work before noon and I was on the road again, sweating like a race horse. The A/C in my car sure felt nice. I want to thank our customer, especially Jonathan for his hospitality and help.

Working with our customers side-by-side is the best part of my job. I have gained so many new friends over the years. Every time I work out in the elements I sure do gain an appreciation for those that do it day in and day out. I am thankful I don’t need to do that every day anymore. But once in a while……. Toby Keith said it best in one of his songs. “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was”.