January 2012 Articles

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Just Rambling

Just Rambling: I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas and will have a great New Year. My Christmas and New Year thus far have been a mixed bag—oh yes, I had a great Christmas in most respects. All of my family were home, even my son, Cody, from Germany. We had several Christmas parties to attend, we ate plenty of good food and exchanged gifts, but most importantly we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. With all of this you may be wondering why my Christmas and New Year thus far have been a mixed bag. The reason is -- I lost my voice. This is tough for an ole boy like me who enjoys talking, especially during the holidays. This is not just a 2 or 3 day loss of voice —it has been going on so long that I will probably scare myself when I am able to talk normal again. It all started on December 15th as my wife and I were on our way to a Southern Ag Credit Board Meeting and Christmas party in Biloxi, MS. As we were going through Monroe my wife, Donnette, told me we needed to stop at the mall to do some Christmas shopping. I agreed, especially since I had told her that I wanted to get each of our five daughters a special gift this year. As we got parked at the mall, out came the spiral notebook Donnette uses to compile her Christmas lists from the cat to great uncle so and so. As we were walking through the mall I casually mentioned to Donnette that it appeared she was spending too much on Christmas. Wrong move on my part! Before we left the mall, I began to have a slight headache — of course I have never enjoyed the shopping experience. My Daddy always said, “that going shopping, especially at Christmas was worse than working”. I fully agree. By the time we got to Vicksburg my headache had increased in intensity and by Jackson it was to the point I couldn’t drive any longer. I turned the driving over to Donnette, took over the passenger seat and quickly went to sleep, not waking up until we got to Biloxi. After checking into our hotel in Biloxi, I immediately went to bed, having diagnosed my condition as being a severe migraine headache. I hadn’t had migraines in years, but when I did have them I always had to go to bed in a dark room. Donnette was left to go to dinner with friends without me. The next morning, after a long, hot shower and I was better able to think, I changed my diagnosis of myself. I told Donnette I knew what happened. When I casually mentioned (fussed) about her spending too much on Christmas she cast a spell on me, hence the headache. To my surprise, she didn’t deny it and she proceeded to tell me about casting a spell on a girl that was mean to her when she was in college. After this bit of light-heartedness and my long, hot shower, I was able to muster up enough energy to attend the board meeting, which was from 9 am to 12 noon. By the time the board meeting was over, I was beat —headache had returned. I immediately went back to the room and got back in bed, staying there for the next 20 hours until it was time to leave on the 17th. Donnette had to attend the Christmas party and Christmas concert with friends without me. You know it just dawned on me — this may have been her plan all along! When we left on Saturday morning, the 17th, Donnette again had to drive and I was buckled in like a baby in the passenger seat — about the only difference between me and a baby at that point was that I wasn’t buckled into a car seat. My headache still persisted and I knew this ride home wasn’t going to be fun. Except for the board meeting, I had wasted a large part of the past two days, but guess what — Donnette had done a lot of her Christmas shopping undeterred by me and she had also attended the Christmas party and Christmas concert. The more I think about it, the more it looks like a plan on Donnette’s part. May be something to spell theory! The ride home was relatively non-eventful — I made it real well until we were about three miles from home. At the point we turned on to the country road to our house — a paved road, but with it seems 50 potholes and 25 curves every mile. To top this off, one of Donnette’s girlfriends from Houston called just as we started down the road. I have ridden roller-coasters before at the fair, but none like this roller-coaster. I “casually” mentioned this to Donnette, but as I said she was talking to her girlfriend — my remarks went basically unnoticed. By the time we turned into the lane to our home, I was thoroughly nauseated — with a serve headache again and voice about gone. I immediately went to bed and was there for 24 hours. Awaking on Sunday morning, I felt somewhat better — headaches not as severe, but very weak. I grew stronger during the day, but not to the point of feeling like getting out of the house — my voice had begun to improve. Monday morning Donnette carried me to the Doctor — I was diagnosed with a virus and prescribed some medicine, but at the speed they ran me through I couldn't help but think that the Obama Health Care plan had kicked in. Cont. from page 2 I know how my cattle feel when I work them — pen them, run them down the chute, administer the shots, then let them back out to pasture — not much consultation. The next day I woke up with no voice — only a whisper. Headache gone, but no voice. I thought — now this is the pits — Christmas upon us — family gatherings all week and I can’t talk. Feeling fine now, except for my lack of voice, I went about my normal activities, trying to prepare for Christmas and all my family coming home. Our first exciting event was my daughter, Blair’s basketball game on Thursday night, the 22nd, in Sterlington followed by a trip to the airport in Monroe later that night to pick up our son, Cody, coming in from Germany. Blair’s game was very exciting — Cedar Creek (Blair’s team) beating a good Sterlington team 44-41. I whispered to my wife after the game that I had reprimanded the referees and hollered at every player on our team, but no one paid me any attention except my 7 year old grand-daughter, Savanah. She leaned over to tell me she had renamed me Mr. Whisper. This name stuck with me throughout the holidays and is still persisting today. With all my children home along with grandchildren and son– in– laws this was a great Christmas even without my voice. Even though my loss of voice has been a real pain I guess in another way it could be considered a blessing - many of my friends when they would hear me whisper would say, “I KNOW Donnette is enjoying this” and gets a big laugh. I guess she was since she cast it on me! This is not the blessing I am talking about though. The blessing I am referring to was on the night of December 23 when all of my children and their families were at my house to have our Christmas party. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to get each of my five daughters a special gift this year just from Daddy, which I did. I already had my son a special gift to give him. This night after eating and opening all the other gifts I saved these special gifts for last. Since I could only whisper I got each of my daughter to sit on the floor around me in front of my recliner and my son beside the recliner. Before I gave each one of them their special gift I reminisced about my Mother and Father—how much they loved me, the different ways they showed their love, and how important they were in my life and will always be in my memories. As I sat and whispered to my children how much I loved them and how important family is I realized the blessing of my lost voice. They were all very quite, listening very intently to my every word and as I looked into their eyes I could see each of them as little children again. This brought back many precious memories to me of my children as they grew up. Oh, those special gifts—they all loved them and this special time where we all reunited heart to heart for a few minutes I know will always be a special memory for my children and myself. Would it have been as special if I had been able to talk normal—I think not. The whispering brought a special closeness to my five little girls and son. It was a few minutes for all of us to reflect back on family gone on, to think about family now and how important our earthly family is to each of us. It was a time for me to express how important each of them and their families are to me and that they all have been a blessing from God to me. Needless to say, it was a special time! I guess Donnette knew what she was doing after all when she cast that spell.
Van Bennett