Goin' Out To Cally – Part 62, Where Are We Now?

It’s been over 18 years since that trip to Cally. Life has not gone as we had planned back then, but life rarely does. We had many surprises and challenges, exciting achievements and heart-broken disappointments.

Unlike our trip to Cally, life is about the journey, not necessarily the destination. If we spend too much time asking “are we there yet?” we’ll miss those magical moments that happen during the trip.

Tim and I remain friends… he’s my best friend, actually. We go to movies together, watch sports together and our kids spend a lot of time together. We compliment each other very well. He inspires me and grounds me and makes me laugh more than just about anyone else. He is the most loyal and generous person I have ever known. It’s an honor to call him friend.

Tim and Beth have since been married and divorced, sadly. They have two beautiful daughters whom I love as if they were my own. Tim intended his first marriage to be his last, so such an outcome has been particularly difficult for him. Tim also has another daughter from another relationship and she’s adorable and lovable and wonderful. Tim’s managed to move on in his life and trust the Lord will guide him as his journey continues to take unexpected paths.

Beth remarried and lives with their two daughters and two step-sons in Florida. Thanks to her I was able to get to convert our home movies from the trip to DVD and put some of the screen captures on the web.

Pete Producer finally got his film produced. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to secure Robert DeNiro, but he did get a Robert to play the part. Robert Urich played the lead role of Harry Spooner in the family film Spooner.

Pete also gave me direct and honest advice on my first two screenplays. Unfortunately for me, it was an opportunity wasted because my writing talents were not good enough at the time. Future screenplays would win me awards and get produced, but not because of Pete. Eventually, I’ve lost touch with him. When I look him up on the internet, I find his last screenplay was produced in 1998. I don’t know what’s happened to him since. I hope all is well.

Sunday and Dave moved to Los Angeles soon after our trip to Cally. Sunday went on to get numerous supporting roles in television and movies. She’s most notable as Olive, the cashier with the long fingernails on Seinfeld. Her character ended up dating Kramer, who had a persistent itch. Their relationship only lasted one episode as his itch eventually dissipated.

Sunday and Dave continued to date for another ten years before finally tying the knot. Sunday converted to Catholicism when they got married and I was last able to speak to her in person about seven years ago. She mentioned how she attended the same church as Gregory Peck. I was in L.A. in 1998 and was surprised to find the last phone number I had for her no longer worked. I haven’t talked to her in a long time. About once every six months I scour the internet to see what she’s up to. I found this headshots recently, which means she’s still pounding the acting pavement in LaLa Land. I am impressed by her passion for her art and so proud of her persistence.

Within a year after college graduation I would develop Crohn’s disease, which would end up changing my professional career forever. The disease eventually forced me to give up on trying to be an actor for a living. It was not an easy decision, but inevitable. Acting was the most fulfilling profession I’ve ever had. I miss it dearly.

I was able to work at Nickelodeon for a few years, behind the scenes, but eventually needed health insurance to manage my disease. I ended up retraining myself from scratch and am now a global technology manager of a $5 billion computer manufacturer. I fill my creative needs by making movies on the side and writing a lot… screenplays, short films, my blog and this story.

I eventually met and married my beautiful wife, my soul mate, Dea, with whom I’ve been married for over 14 years. Words alone cannot effectively describe just how much I love her. We have been blessed with two beautiful children. My daughter, Dorothea, who shares my passion for acting, my sense of humor and my love of film. My son, Gabriel, who shares my love of sports and my strong competitive nature. I have so much in common with both of them… I realize that I am one very lucky man. I am truly blessed.

This trip to California in the dry, hot Summer of 1988 was memorable for so many reasons. It was my first great adventure, the first great experience for which I was uniquely involved. It had romance and drama and thrills and spills and hopes and dreams and pain and suffering. It was the first story of my life worth telling and its taken eighteen years for me to finally get it down on paper.

Goin’ Out to Cally was a journey where my world expanded and my dreams were forged. It has remained carved in my memory, where it will stay, for the rest of my days.