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meet, "jackadoo"

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This week we get up close and personal with a well-known GOLO member who I found to be very down to earth. He is open and honest and loves his 86-year-old mother to pieces. Meet, Jackadoo. 

Angela: How’s your neck?

Jackadoo: It’s getting better each week. It will never be normal but when I look at what other GOLOers are going through, I have no right to complain.

Angela: You were downsized yourself some time ago, right?

Jackadoo: It’s been about five years. It’s taught me to have a simpler lifestyle. Having the most stuff is really overrated in my opinion.

Angela: How long did it take you to learn that lesson?

Jackadoo: Within a year of being downsized.  I haven’t worn a coat and tie except for church or a wedding since.

Angela: What is your advice to people experiencing it now?

Jackadoo: To downsize their lifestyle. So many of us are overextended, thinking it will last forever and you can’t count on that anymore.

Angela: Do you think the economy will turn around anytime soon?

Jackadoo: Not anytime soon. I think it will be 18 - 19 months. The economy is going to change. It’s not going to be like it was. I knew a bunch of people who had a bunch of NASDAQ stock. They realized they weren’t making any money and a lot of people lost their fanny in that. We need to have realistic expectations about the economy.

Angela: You openly talk about being divorced twice and recently breaking off an engagement. What do think makes marriage so hard?

Jackadoo: Part of it is the pressure to keep up with the Joneses.

Angela: Tell me more about that.

Jackadoo: It relates to what we were just talking about. People buy houses and cars bigger than they should. They get overextended. Money is one of the primary reasons for divorce.

Angela: But before you get married you don’t even see that.

Jackadoo: No, you spend a ton of money to get married and it’s all so unrealistic.

Angela: So is it our expectation or us that needs to change?

Jackadoo:  I think it’s more the expectations. I know people who could stay happily married if there weren’t these other pressures. Some couples have children too early. The worst thing that can happen is for dad and mom to split when the kids are 4 and 5 years old.  It changes people’s priorities when they have children. I’m not picking on women but you have to somehow carve out some time for the marriage.

Angela: Do you think you’ll ever get married again?

Jackadoo: (Sounds exasperated) I don’t know. I wasn’t prepared for that question….. It would be nice. I don’t want to grow old with just me and the dog. The dog won’t last that long. It’s lonely living alone. I’ve been married most of my life.

Angela: You’ll do it again.

Jackadoo: I think I probably will. I keep looking around. I try not to flirt on GOLO though. I try to keep it on the up and up. I met my last engagement on Match.com but I haven’t been back on a dating site since. I met some GOLOites at the latest events and they are some really nice people.

Angela: So perhaps your next wife is on GOLO and you just don’t know it.

Jackadoo: Could be, I’m not really looking anywhere else.

Angela: You mention your mom on your profile. What’s the most important lesson she ever taught you?

Jackadoo: To be kind. She is kind to everyone. Everybody loves her. I put on my profile that it doesn’t cost anything to be nice. I take her to the store and she talks to the stock boys, the clerks and before she leaves she knows how many children they have…She’ll be 87 in March and has always been very independent. My dad was in the Navy and was gone all the time. She always worked hard.

Angela: She sounds like an amazing person.

Jackadoo: She is.

Angela: Do you have children?

Jackadoo: Two grown children. They are great kids. No problems. Still both unmarried.

Both are around 30, I should have some grandkids by now!

Angela: Hopefully that will happen.

Jackadoo: If I live ling enough it will.

Angela: What do you do when no one’s looking?

Jackadoo: I’m usually on GOLO, walking the dog, or watching some DVDs.

Angela: You and I share two favorite movies. Titanic and Gladiator. What do those two movies have in common?

Jackadoo: Both make me cry. I think they’re just the greatest. I have to go about a year at a time between watching them though.

Angela: My favorite part of Titanic is when the orchestra continues to play as the ship is going down. What’s yours?

Jackadoo: That’s mine too!

Angela: What about Gladiator?

Jackadoo: Well Russell Crowe is my hero. The worse part was when he found his family butchered. The best part was the fight in the coliseum. Even though it didn’t end good he got some revenge on that punk, whoever he was.

Angela: What will you be doing in 30 years?

Jackadoo: I need to be closer to God. Also, if I have hair I’ll still be coloring it.

Angela: Do you do that now?

Jackadoo: Yeah, I don’t overdo it, but I do it.

Angela: Do you experiment with wild colors?

Jackadoo: No I do my natural color. A light ash brown.

Angela: Going back to the fall: How often do you think about that and how scary was it?

Jackadoo: It was pretty scary. When I went down I was passed out for an hour or two. There was nobody here. I had a great neurosurgeon and I’m going to be alright. I won’t be normal but I wasn’t normal before.

Angela: You’re a pretty deep guy.

Jackadoo: I guess. You’re not going to get a frivolous interview from me.

Angela: Tell me something that most people don’t know about you?

Jackadoo: I’m a World War II and overall history buff.

Angela: What fascinates you about the war?

Jackadoo: Just the bravery. I’m getting back into the Civil war too. I just bought a nice coffee table book about it.

Angela: What have those two wars taught us?

Jackadoo: One thing we’ve learned about all wars is they were bad. I was old enough to go to Vietnam. I could have gone. My mother had already made plans for me to go to Canada where her brother lived.  If it had come right down to it, she would have sent me. She knew that war was wrong.

Angela: Do you have any regrets?

Jackadoo: Yeah. Most recently I got involved with a girl who wanted me to sever ties with my family. I’m ashamed to say that I moved up to VA and did that for about a year. That’s the most recent. We don’t have time to talk about all of my regrets. But I allowed it. I’m still trying to make up for it.

Angela: Well the good thing is you came back

Jackadoo: I did, and my family took me back.

Angela: And now you’re here with your GOLO family.

Jackadoo: Yep.

Angela: We sure do like having you

Jackadoo: I like having you too.

Filed under: People