Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Saturday, September 04, 2010 10:55:35 AM
Today, August 29th, was my brother Joe’s birthday. He is now 84. I want the world to know that I not only no longer resent, I’ve even forgotten, that he wanted our parents to throw me in the trash when they brought me home from the hospital. I even called to wish him a happy birthday!
Sheila tried a new dish this morning for breakfast. After she served me, she took her fork and tasted a tidbit of it. All she did was kind of grunt as she pushed my plate over to me. I would have been happier if she had seized a large forkful for herself first. In fact, she didn’t even serve herself, commenting only that it needed a few things to make it edible. I ate most of it. My army training comes in handy when eating.
I went to Dr. Smith at her insistence. In fact, she didn’t insist, she simply made an appointment for me. (Sometimes I feel left out when Sheila and I go to Gary to see about me.) However, before the appointment, the nurses at the Cardiac Club complained about her high blood pressure, so I insisted she see Gary also. Interestingly, her blood pressure went down when Gary pronounced me in reasonably good shape. Thinking about this, it bothers me a bit. A wife’s blood pressure is supposed to go up when her husband flirts with pretty girls. I flirt with the cashiers at Cee Bee all the time and it doesn’t bother her a bit. I fear it says something about her opinion of me around young ladies despite my physique and movie star good looks.
Dr. Smith asked if I would mind if a third year medical student working with him would be present at my interviews. I agreed and shortly afterwards she came in to get some preliminary data. When Gary joined her, I asked how come he always got good looking medical students. He replied that it helped that her professor was one of his patients. As we left, I commented to Sheila on the medical student’s calm interview of me – I also gave her some advice which she listened to politely. Sheila replied that Dr. Smith’s staff had warned her about me before she came in, saying I was not a typical patient.
People have sometimes wondered why I have such a high opinion of Gary Smith. When we got home I asked Sheila if she had noted that a professor at a medical school in Nashville was willing to drive twenty miles to Bellevue for a family doctor. I’m not the only one with a high opinion of his competence.
Recently, things have not been going as well for me in another direction. I don’t know what the Cumberland Furnace community thought of Sheila at first, perhaps as a pleasant girl who married an old professor. But they have caught on that she is both bright and a talented designer. It started with her writing the newsletter for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and has gathered steam. Both the Community Center and the Historical Society have had her design and produce flyers for them. Now, at their requests, she is designing and writing booklets. The Historical Society asked first and now the Community Center has asked. The Community Center booklet appears reasonably doable, but she is really digging into Tennessee history for the Historical Society book. I find it quite interesting, at least the tidbits she tells me. Dickson started as a railroad terminal and was incorporated in 1873, then the residents discovered they couldn’t sell liquor, so they un-incorporated in 1882, not incorporating again until 1899. They also had a Ruskin Cooperative Association founded in 1894. This was dissolved in 1899 due to a conflict between charter members who wanted a corporation for the promotion of socialism and anarchists who wanted a free love society. The charter members moved to Georgia and the free love group found that with the loss of the charter members money they couldn’t survive as a group.
Tonight, again busy, Sheila is designing a flyer for the new BaptistChurch in our community. If you add all this up, it does not leave the amount of time available for the care and feeding of an elderly husband that such a husband might desire. I not only end up doing most of the laundry, tonight I did the dishes while she was reviewing her proposed flyer with the Baptists. Incidentally all of her work is community service: free.
Regarding our young borders, Andrew believes he has gotten his courses straightened out so that he will graduate in December. In the meantime, Stephen is spending most of his waking hours job hunting. So far, Obama’s stimulus hasn’t helped him. No one appears to be hiring, and he is looking well beyond Clarksville and Dickson. He would really prefer work in a zoo or botanical garden but is willing to take anything. Friday, he told me his best opportunity to date appears to be a bakery. (If anyone knows of anything available, please let him know.)