Cape May, NJ: On this particularly sunny yet mild August Thursday morning, ʻBreakfast with Daveʼ returned to McGladeʼs on the Beach along the promenade in Historic Cape May, New Jersey to honor our friend and colleague, Gene Sole, who finally succumbed to cancer just last week. A record tying 12 celebrants gathered together in Geneʼs honor including: Lynn Massimiano (our birthday girl), Paul Mathis,
Bernie Bischoff, Bill Noe, Bill Carr, Eddie Jurewicz, Lisa Jurewicz, Doug “D” Letterman, Sue Crossan, Jim Colubiale, John Wilsey, and a special guest appearance by the American Iron Man himself, Dave Smith!
Also in attendance this Thursday morning was Geneʼs bottle of Wild Turkey (Rare Breed). Paul, Jim and Sean Murphy purchased this bottle for Gene when he was deployed to Iraq while he was the assistant principal of Lower Cape May Regional High School. In true military fashion, he only accepted the bottle under the condition that they would all drink from it with him once he returned from his deployment. Upon his return, the one time all parties were present together, the bottle was AWOL. And so before they could gather together again, Gene became ill. Just this past spring, Gene came to a ʻBreakfast with Daveʼ soiree and returned the unopened bottle to the group. This morning after breakfast, we honored his memory by toasting him from this bottle, which stood at attention on the East end of the table throughout the meal.
McGladeʼs, which is currently celebrating its 30th season in Cape May, features all types and kinds of omelets as well as right-on-the-beach front dining. Pancakes, waffles and french toast are also offered in generous portions. All omelets come with home fries and fruit garnish while the coffee is not only fresh but bottomless as well.
Once the group was settled and our orders were sent off to the kitchen, we all focused into any one of numerous conversations that spiraled out around the table. At the west end of the table, Lisa J made her intentions perfectly clear once again that this will be her last 180 days at the Erma School of Hard Knocks while Sue, who also has the numbers for an early retirement like the others at the table, stressed that she will push on at the school for yet another year, maybe holding out on retirement until social security kicks in.
John then changed the conversation topic to how crazy Cape May becomes during these dog days of summer. He told of how he just recently went to the local WaWa in Cape May and watched a woman driver leaving the parking lot “T” a bicyclist crossing in front of her, driving the bike and the rider nearly 5 feet from the impact! While everyone ran to the aid of the bicyclist, the driver drove off, but not before several witnesses, including John, noticed the license plate number. Later that same day, John was heading out of West Cape May over the West Cape May Bridge when a car, waiting at a stop sign at the base of the bridge, bolted out in front of him. John immediately recognized the car and the license plate number as the WaWa hit-and-run vehicle. When Jim asked John if he turned the number over to the local police, John simply responded that he didnʼt need to. Since he has her license number, he knows where she lives. And he left it at that. Sometimes we feel John is part Sicilian.
Once the food arrived and our coffee and tea cups were refilled, Bill Noe brought up the fact that Stephen Hawking has recently denied the existence of an afterlife. Paul then asked Bill if this bothered him which led to our Seinfeld reference for the morning, alluding to the episode where Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer canʼt find their car in a New Jersey Mall parking lot. George becomes frustrated that the group canʼt find the car and mentions that it really doesnʼt matter, we will all be dead eventually anyway. Kramer asks him if that bothers him, and George insists that it does. When George asks Kramer if this bothers him, Kramer simply responds, “Not at all”. George then reprimands Kramer by saying that Kramerʼs answer bothers him more than dying because its people like Kramer who will live to be 120 because he is not bothered by the notion. So, George asks him, “How could it not bother you?” Kramer responds, “Well, I once saw this thing on TV with people who were terminally ill. Everyone of them believed that the secret of life it to live every moment.” George can only respond by saying, “Yea, Iʼve heard that; meanwhile, Iʼm here with you in a parking garage in Jersey!” We are all sure that Gene would agree; however, we are still stuck in Jersey, but now without his friendship and camaraderie.
After everyone finished their breakfast and Doug “The Calculator” determined that we each owed $12.00 for this weekʼs bill of fare, Paul, the designated bartender, opened the Wild Turkey and poured everyone a shot. The group then stood together, raised their glasses and simply said, “To Gene”, right in the middle of a very busy breakfast dinning area. Then, Paul refilled the glasses and from our seats, we toasted ourselves, ʻBreakfast with Daveʼ, for getting together and hopefully staying together in loyalty to Geneʼs legacy. The group then adjourned to the beach where a shot of Wild Turkey was to be poured into the sand for Gene. On the way to the beach, Bill asked Jim about the more personal side of Gene because most of his dealings with Gene were on a professional level. So Jim told Bill a story about a fellow colleague at LCMR, John Merrill, a now retired history teacher at the school, who had Indian artifacts along with bones and a dear skull, which he prized above all, in his room. Well, early one morning, Gene, who was then the assistant principal, let himself into Johnʼs room and kidnapped the skull and held it for ransom. Everyday he left anonymous notes on Johnʼs desk and/or in his school mail box in the mornings explaining the terms for release of the skull. John never really knew who was doing this either. So to keep him off balance, Gene planned to have the manager of the Health Club he attended give the skull back to him when he came in for his next workout. However, Gene never figured that two John Merrillʼs were enrolled in the club and the manager gave it to the wrong one. Then, Jim said the story rings of a “ITʼS NOT A SMALL WORLD; ITʼS A BIG CAPE MAY” tale because that next day he came over to see his mom and dad in Wildwood Crest and his parentʼs next door neighbor came over to him with this box asking Jim, “You work at Lower Cape May donʼt you? Well, could you explain this?” When he opened the box, the skull was seated atop a nest of straw. This was the “other” John Merrill; Jim thought he had just entered into the Twilight Zone! So Jim proceeded to explain the whole prank to him (in four part harmony), and assured him that he would make sure the intended John Merrill has his skull back. In loyalty to Gene, Jim never told the real John Merrill who kidnapped his skull, and even to this day, he remains friends with the other John Merrill.
By the time Jim finished telling all this to Bill, the group adjourned to the high water line on the beach where Paul poured a shot of Wild Turkey into the sand for Gene.
Semper Fi indeed. Miss you, Gene.
[...] The Toast to Gene. “Semper Fi” [...]