{"id":1407,"date":"2023-08-30T01:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T01:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=1407"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:25:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T10:25:06","slug":"greer-mcspadden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=1407","title":{"rendered":"Tribute # 18: Greer McSpadden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greer<\/strong> McSpadden<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Geer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

caption:  that’s Greer on the right<\/em><\/p>\n

I met Greer<\/strong> McSpadden<\/strong> through an on-line dating service.  In Minnesota it was called \u201cGreen Singles,\u201d and although it contained the exact same folks for possible future romances, it was called \u201cSpiritual Singles\u201d in New Mexico.  Greer came into my life after <\/span>I finished writing my \u201cGrowing Up\u201d memoirs, so pardon my digression to say quite a bit about Greer and me.<\/p>\n

It was a Bluebird who got me on Green Singles. I started my second time as a single person waiting in post office lines, or going grocery shopping, hoping for chance encounters.  After my dad died in 2014, we moved my mom back to Minnesota and eventually into assisted living.  I often joined her for lunch at New Perspectives on Lake Owasso.  One lunch, another son in his 60s was at the same table visiting his 90s something mother.  He says to me, \u201cOh man, you gotta try a dating service \u2013 I\u2019m on \u2018Plenty of Fish\u2019 \u2013 finding lots of women in the sea who like to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I tried it.  One of my first dates said, \u201cLook, let\u2019s just be friends \u2013 but here\u2019s some advice: “say \u2018420 friendly,\u2019 not \u2018you occasionally enjoy having an illegal smile;\u2019 and put a full body photo on your profile \u2013 I\u2019ve had too many dates show up with only one arm or one leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next Bluebirds softball game I asked Maddy to take a photo of me while at bat.  \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d Karen (recently divorced from Corky) asked.  After learning, she said, \u201cTry Green Singles \u2013 that\u2019s where I met my new guy – that site seems to have lots of high-spirited Bluebird types.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how I met Santa Fe, New Mexico, Greer McSpadden.  Maybe the most fun thing about being on a dating site (besides seeing photos and using your imagination) is writing about yourself.  Getting Greer\u2019s interest was almost as simple as calling myself \u201cMr. Politico\u201d and describing myself as looking for someone who wanted to travel the country and volunteer on a campaign or two.<\/p>\n

After messaging back and forth for a couple weeks, including my finding out she ran away from home in 1967 to be part of \u201cThe Summer of Love,\u201d I proposed we meet in NYC.  Her reply: \u201cNew York City for a sex frenzy?  Wow, you are something else.  Good try lover boy, but have to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she was okay with long-distance phone calls.  Finding a lot to like about each other, she said \u201cWhy don\u2019t you come down here and we\u2019ll go to work on the Deb Haaland for Congress campaign?\u201d  (Both Greer and Deb Haaland are Native American Tribal Members, and Deb would be the first such elected to Congress.)<\/p>\n

Thus began a four<\/span>–month<\/span> long<\/span> first date.  What a great, great lady, what a great, great person!  Best sense of humor, the best at repartee.  After a week together, really getting to know our similar spirits, she started calling us \u201cClyde & Bonnie.\u201d  We were living on the edge of a full-blossomed love affair and tearing things up wherever we went.  After two days in Albuquerque getting to know Deb Haaland on a first name basis, I said to Bonnie, aka Greer, \u201cYou know, Deb\u2019s a shoo-in, let’s find a campaign where we can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201cmy best friend\u2019s boyfriend in college was Drew Edmondson and he\u2019s running for Governor in Oklahoma \u2013 plus my family is still back in Oklahoma \u2013 we can go visit them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeez,\u201d I said, \u201cOklahoma\u2019s a pretty red state, but let\u2019s go!\u201d  First day volunteering for Edmondson, we get pointed to the campaign of Kendra Horn running for Congress in Oklahoma City \u2013 \u201chelping her is helping Drew.\u201d  We show up at the Horn campaign headquarters mid-afternoon, and it appears there\u2019s only one person in the office \u2013 Victoria – the campaign manager.  We tell Victoria, \u201cWe\u2019re here to volunteer every day for the next three weeks.\u201d   Kendra, so far sight unseen, but hearing us, comes racing out of a cubicle: \u201cEvery day for the next three weeks?!\u201d<\/p>\n

We did take one weekend off traveling to Fred\u2019s Lounge in Mamou, Louisiana.  I\u2019d been there once before \u2013 it\u2019s my favorite bar in the whole world.  At 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, the place is so packed you can\u2019t get in the door without bumping into people dancing to Zydeco music.  The bartender, Fred\u2019s wife, \u201cTanta Sue\u201d remembers me for having brought her the N.Y. Times travel article where I first read about her place.  In fact, it\u2019s up on the wall, next to the sign \u201cNo Dancing on the Juke Box.\u201d  Scrawled on the ladies\u2019 restroom door: \u201cIf you\u2019re not having fun at Fred\u2019s, you\u2019re doing it wrong!”<\/p>\n

photo captions below:  That’s our tent “Big Daddy” at the beautiful Indian Hills Campground 50 miles short of Mamou, LA.  Next morning we’re dancing in Fred’s Lounge.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fred'<\/a><\/p>\n

Up to this point, Oklahoma City had not elected a Democrat to Congress since 1974, and Kendra was a considerable underdog, but we went to work, door-knocking in the suburbs saying Kendra and Drew would be stronger voices for education.  Thirteen days before the election, Kendra and her opponent \u2013 a gun manufacturing incumbent Republican \u2013 have a debate.  \u201cClyde & Bonnie\u201d are sitting in the fifth row.  Double-handedly, we turn the debate into a raucous one, getting front page coverage and our picture in the paper.<\/p>\n

\"IMG-3396\"<\/a><\/p>\n

caption:  can you find Clyde & Bonnie?<\/em><\/p>\n

All the sudden everybody in Oklahoma City knows about the race, what\u2019s at stake, and volunteers start turning out in droves for Kendra.  On our way out of town, heading to Texas, to get a Beto O\u2019Rourke lawn sign for the CRV\u2019s back window, Victoria calls, \u201cThank you guys so much!  Couldn\u2019t have done it without you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Kendra won in an upset.  Drew came close but lost.  By then we had become good friends with Drew too \u2013 and two years later Greer and I went to his campaign reunion party.  (Yes, I\u2019m about to tell you how our love affair went on for another three<\/span> years, trying to keep it short.)<\/p>\n

As we continued our first date travels, visiting friends throughout the Southwest and onto California, I began writing stories about the adventures of Clyde & Bonnie to my friends back home, saying, \u201c\u2026 still having fun, still under budget, and still in love.\u201d  In fact, Green Singles posted our story (the one I wrote) on its dating site as one of its \u201csuccess stories.\u201d  You can still find it there, googling Green Singles and scrolling down to Success Stories, looking for \u201cHow Bonnie & Clyde Met\u201d.  You don\u2019t have to pay to get there.  Doing that means I can shorten up this story about me & Bonnie:\"Clyde<\/a><\/p>\n

caption:  Bonnie & Clyde’s Green Singles Success Story shot<\/em><\/p>\n

1.) Maybe one of our worst nights\/best stories was on the drive from Santa Barbara to San Francisco.  We saw a sign for $8 campsites on the beach.  We drove \u201cHiawatha,\u201d our name for Greer\u2019s CRV, on sand all the way to the end of the beach; pitched \u201cBig Daddy,\u201d our tent, in a wind storm; managed to prep a quick meal; and turned in.  Darkness fell, and suddenly we started hearing loud engine noises all around us.  Peeping out, we realized we\u2019d pitched our tent in the middle of a dune buggy racetrack!  And we were at the pinnacle with dozens of dune buggies making U-turns right around our tent!  We couldn\u2019t leave without getting run over.<\/p>\n

2.) We spent New Year\u2019s Eve in San Francisco watching Elizabeth Warren announce for President on the Rachel Maddow show \u2013 both deciding we\u2019d likely end up volunteering for her shortly.<\/p>\n

3.) We ended our four-month date spending two weeks with Mike Whalen (see his Tribute above) in Playa Zipolite, Mexico, my all-time favorite beach.  It\u2019s a south-facing beach at the very tip bottom of Mexico.  You get sunrises (bobbing between mountain tops) in the east and sunsets (through caverns) in the west.  You can see whales breaching from your hammock.  It\u2019s clothing optional.  The lifeguards are also the pot dealers (and do the little policing needed).  A clean room is only $20 a night.  For more about that great beach either click <Here<\/a>> or go to Archives and read \u201cMy Trip to See Mike in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Playa<\/a><\/p>\n

caption:  Playa Zipolite Beach<\/em><\/p>\n

4.) Once state-side, Greer returned home, back to Santa Fe, and me to Saint Paul, both of us going to work on the Warren campaign.  Meanwhile, we had an understanding that living so far away from each other meant we weren\u2019t committed to being monogamous.<\/p>\n

5.) While working the Warren campaign, we took time for trysts in Chicago, the Upper Peninsula, and one to Walden Pond.<\/p>\n

6.) By the time of our last get-together, visiting Paul Ogren (see Steve Cooper Tribute) in Hawaii, I\u2019d decided that my polyamorous period was over.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been over a year now since I last saw Greer (aka Bonnie), and I\u2019m still hoping a platonic friendship can evolve.  Regardless, I want to thank you Greer, from the bottom of my heart, for all the wonderful times, for your huge heart for humanity, your absolutely scintillating wit, and the love I felt.  Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greer McSpadden caption:  that’s Greer on the right I met Greer McSpadden through an on-line dating service.  In Minnesota it was called \u201cGreen Singles,\u201d and although it contained the exact same folks for possible future romances, it was called \u201cSpiritual … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1407"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2998,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407\/revisions\/2998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}