Defining moments

I live my life in a shell more times than not and this bloggin thing has really made me ask questions that I should've asked (anyways) but getting too caught up in my self-indulgent self  I don't think (or care) to ask. I know it's not good to admit, but the truth. On our 6 hour trip to Spokane, I ask Aaron (sitting behind the wheel) what got him to where he’s at today. He tells me about playing in bands, high school, college, moving to Denver then about moving back from Denver after someone put a gun to his head and then says "I didn't tell you about that?". He hadn't. : I was walking back (home) from work one day in late Fall and it was getting dark. (I was)Still dressed up from work with a briefcase for crying out loud! I passed 4 or 5 kids (walking). One kid starts following me and (then stops him) huffin and puffin and saying how I had beaten up his girlfriend. I didn’t do it, I told him (all the while the kid has a gun in his hand pointing down at the ground), after finally convincing him that I didn’t do it. He (then) puts the gun up to my face and says ‘gimme your wallet’, and cool as a cucumber, I’m like I’m not giving you my wallet,(I’m like) I’m going home! So I turn around and start walking home  (I only hoped he wouldn’t pull the trigger). He didn’t. I was not afraid. In hindsight, I shoulda  took the gun and pistol whipped the fuck outta him. There are few things in your life that steer you in directions, you know? That was a defining moment in my life as far as what brought me to Kansas City… and is the reason I’m sitting here *laughing*.   

You know, Aaron don’t act like a badass, not an imposing guy, he's the one with a contagious smile and first to laugh or make you laugh.  But given this situation he was someone who was put in a life or death situation and had the guts to walk away from the kid (with a gun pointing at the back of his head) instead of giving him his wallet. NO WAY IN HELL could I ever imagine doing that.  I don't know if it's "a book from it's cover", "a man from his smile" or what? But I didn't see that one coming and would have given the kid my billfold along with my 401k. You just never know what someone’s made of now, do you?