justin brown amazon Archives - Page 12 of 42

I left my wedding ring in a cab.

It wasn’t even my wedding night, just a few beers with the boys.

I have this terrible habit of fiddling with my ring. If I’m standing on a boat I wonder, what would happen if it fell in there? On decks I often look at gaps between the planks and think the same.

This particular night my mates and I were in a Corporate Cab in Auckland driven by Ali. Around midnight we arrived at my house, during which time I’d fiddled once again and my ring sprung into the air and rolled somewhere.

At the time I laughed. But secretly I was thinking, my ring is not on my finger and my other fingers can’t locate it. Moments later four grown men lifted seats and shone iPhone torches. Brown, you dick. How could did you do that?

Yes, yes, I know.

I figured the ring wasn’t at the bottom the ocean or beneath a deck, so waved the boys on. My fate now lay with Ali and a mobile number on a business card.

I got up at 7am. Ali got up at 4pm. Long day.

Text – 4.14pm: Wat sort of ring is it?

I described it.

Text 4.21pm: Yes mate, I got it

The next day Ali from Corporate Cabs dropped the ring off to my house free of charge.

Text: It’s al gud u don’t need to pay.

Legend.

People make up stories all the time. Bob Dylan made up his own back story by creating an identity his record company would run with. Steve Jobs went out with Dylan’s ex, so he could say he went out with Dylan’s ex.

The obvious stories are found in movies, songs, books, but they can be found anywhere. Everywhere.

My kids were selling Rainbow loom bracelets on the street outside our house and a lady turned up with a yappy dog. I recognised the dog as the little bastard who barks all night, every night. The lady bought three looms from my daughters, two for herself and one for her mother who is in a rest home. I looked at the dog and inwardly snarled. As we walked back to the house my daughter said, ‘Isn’t it sad her mum is in a rest home?’

We want details, we want to know how to have a better life, we want to learn. Stories give us that. They have power. It’s not even that hard. Live an interesting life and you can write your own script.

Nelson Mandela said we should buy a house 100 metres from where we were born. Or something to that effect.

So during the holidays I took the family through my home town of Hawera in the mighty Taranaki. I texted my dad for the address. He told me and I took the photo above. And do you know what? It was a special moment. That was the house I came home to as a baby! My sister was two and I was a snot-ridden crying ball of eyebrow.

I thought about knocking on the door but that would have been pathetic.

The next day I thought about that house a lot. How it sat beneath Mount Taranaki. How it was surrounded by other lovely homes. How my parents were only 23 and 25.

I texted my dad the photo. But I got the wrong address. That wasn’t the house I was born in at all. As Dad said, ‘Our house had a garage at the back.’

And now I’m back in Auckland and the house I came home to as a baby is a little further than 100 metres away. Road trip anyone?

Justin Brown

A taxi driver saved my marriage

The story of Rainbow Looms vs. Bob Dylan

A life changing moment in Hawera