Sonny Osborne's answering machine

Never take the words you say or the words you hear for granted........

In the late 80's I was living the "Life of Riley"....working for The Gibson Guitar Company that appreciated what I did {at least I thought so}and being allowed to do some things for people who had deserved them for a long time, but never been given credit...

I called Sonny Osborne's number one day and of course got his answering machine....and at the end...Sonny in his warm baritone voice....said "be sure to be careful out on those highways, look out for the other fellow and by all means wear your seat belt".
I thought this was pretty neat....soon I got a new answering machine at home and it had a 25 second space for my message that needed to be filled....otherwise I'd get in and get the message......something like " 532 give me a call when you come in".... with me not knowing who in the heck called...I decided that I needed to completely fill the 25 seconds welcome time so folks who called couldn't start leaving their message too soon.....

So from that point on and until this day my answering machine message says "Hi friends, This is
Doug, I hope things are well in your world today. I'm not by the phone right now, but if you'd like to leave your name, your number and a message and I'll be more than happy to get back with you when I come in.....In the mean time, be sure to be careful out on those highways, look out for the other fellow and by all means wear those seat belts."........

Well, here is the rest of the story.....In the late 80's I did a syndicated radio program called Blue Grass Today and from time to time I would call the record company's for various reasons....I had called Turquoise Records in Whitesburg, Ky for something one day and later Pat Martin its owner returned my call.....With me not being at home she got my answering machine and thinking the message was cute she redialed the number and let her daughter Crystal listen to it.......They laughed and went on about their business....

Later in the day....They were going to take a lawnmower over to Norton Va (I think they were driving a Blazer, or some sort of vehicle where the lawnmower was inside with them) to have some work done on it and when they got in the vehicle Crystal said to Pat....Mom, You know what Doug said "Be sure to wear your seat belt....." So she put it on, they laughed and went on to Norton, got the mower fixed and headed back home.....Again Crystal reminded Mom what Doug had said......
Well for those who do not know: there is a mountain where Virginia and Ky meet on Highway 23 just above Jenkins Ky.....At this point in time it was a winding two lane road.....and on the way back and going down grade toward Jenkins Pat's right front wheel went off the pavement and caused the vehicle flip and to plummet over the guard rail and down the mountain side......

Some of the first rescue workers at the scene were Pat's neighbors....Knowing that Pat....excuse my language but "drove like a bat out of hell sometimes and never wore a seat belt"...thought that things were not going to be good.....The vehicle flipped several times and finally caught on a small tree....Pat and Crystal were pulled from the wreckage.......

They were banged up and bruised...but both were OK.....

Sonny Osborne's message that I took and used possibly and probably saved the lives of these two great ladies.....or at least caused their injuries to be much less severe.

I don't think I have even told Sonny about this.....

The Long and the Short of this.....say what you mean, mean what you say and love the people you say it too......