Friends are so great to have. Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold! Charlie Flowers is gold. Sid had been working at Delta Chevrolet since 1976 and Charlie started in 1982. Sid would come home from work and talk about his friend "Maynard" and finally I got to meet "Maynard"! Ha, don't know where in the world that came from but Maynard was Charlie and we stopped by Charlie's house in Winona. Or, should I say where Charlie's house was going to be? Charlie and Patty lived in a tiny little camper on the lot where they were building their house. When I say tiny, I mean minuscule! It made Jon's camper seem like a mansion in comparison. We had not been married very long, but Charlie and Patty had been married 3 years. They got married when he was 19 and she was 16. Charlie was in the Air Force and Patty was still in high school. They lived on base in Arkansas until Charlie's term was up and then they moved back to Winona where they were both from. Charlie worked on building loads for the helicopters to drop and they used a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, which they cut off part of it to use for the loads. Charlie saved the scraps, and eventually used them on his house. Patty drew up the plans for the house and Charlie built it himself. The more we were around them the more we liked them. We would go out almost every weekend to eat somewhere and hang out at each others' homes. WE had the first child and Charlie fell in love with liz. He and Sid built a back porch on our house just in time for her first birthday and we had the party right there on the porch. He built her a toy box and a cute little bench with hearts cut in it. Jon came along next and I remember going to Pancho's and eating tons of their hot salsa. Charlie and Patty were there! WE were there when CJ was born! CJ and Jon grew up together and are still best friends to this day. CJ is a lot like his dad in that he would give you the shirt off his back and help you in any way possible. As life happened and our lives grew busier, we still are great friends, but don't see each other as much. Charlie and CJ stopped by this afternoon to pick up some parts that Jon ordered for him. They found Sid and Jon down at Sid's mother's house cutting up firewood. Charlie grabbed a saw and went to cutting and CJ grabbed the maul and went to splitting. Patrick and I stacked wood, Jon split wood with the splitter and Sid cut up a log with another saw. Even though he had worked all day, he stopped and helped us and Sid would do the same for Charlie. Charlie Flowers is indeed gold.