When you have your imagination, you’re never broke

When you have your imagination, you’re never broke

I had a very unusual experience after I got out of the Navy, and I went back to be with my mom.  She and Dad had divorced, and we were cleaning out a furnace at Mom’s house to put a new one in, and Sears was going to come with the furnace.  This was back in the day of the junkmen, and this junkman had backed up into the driveway next to Mom’s house.  And I’m walking up the driveway, and for some reason I just lean down and notice that there were legs of a man at the very back of the truck, which was backed into the driveway.  So I could have turned left and walked into the house, but I wondered who that was.  And so I walked just a few steps to the back of the truck, and this is a little black guy, African American man, who, if you were to portray in—be an artist and paint what Mr. Bojangles must look like, that’s who he looked like.  And he just looked at me, big smile, and he said, “When you have your imagination, you’re never broke.”

That’s all he said to me.  That was the only moment I had with that guy. I was in my 20s. “When you have your imagination, you’re never broke.”  And I’ve never forgotten that. It’s like sitting here.  Or it’s like having a family.  Or it’s like anything you have.  If you have your imagination, you’re never broke.  Just a thought.

[There’s a song title.]

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