My August 2010 Article

One of the primary reasons I had my daughter set this blog page up for me was so I could post the articles I write for the monthly Lee County Shrine Club newsletter. Some months I don't have an article, I use a photo page or like last month just sent out a short notification and calendar newsletter. I started sending out this newsletter about ten years ago. back then the club had a by-law that required a monthly meeting notice to be mailed out to our membership. When the late Milton Collier got me back involved with the Shriners, he asked me to take over this meeting notice in the form of a monthly newsletter. His only requirements was the meeting notice information and a calendar. It grew from a simple black & white copy to the four page legal size issue it is now. Several years the club purchased a HP 4600 color laser printer and I self-print it monthly on 24 pound paper. I have received several requests from people to be on the mailing list, good thing we have a bulk mail permit.

This month's (August 2010) issue was very personal due to the article. These children we treat at the Shriners Hospital for Children are very sacred to us. Milton loved these kids as much as anyone and his compassion and dedication to these children has carried on past his death through the Nobles that knew him well. I know privacy issues prevent us from discussing the medical factors of our children or even publicly mention their name. I obtained permission from the parents to share this article with my readers. I appreciate her parents for allowing me to share this with people. Her death is very sad but her life was a blessing.

Emily Grace: 1999 - 2010

Being a Shriner and involved with the transportation program puts you in contact with the very children we so adamantly seek to help. One such child was little Emily Grace Jenkins. Normally we don’t talk about the individual particulars of our children but in this case I have permission from the parents. Still the details of her medical conditions are not necessary for this article. Emily was born with several medical conditions that gravely affected her life. We lost little Emily in May of this year; she was ten years old. If there has ever been an angel on Earth, Emily Grace was that angel. I can confidently say that everyone that was in contact with her was truly blessed by knowing her.

I first met little Emily in 2002, Vance and I were transporting three children to the Shreveport Shriners Hospital for Children. The Shreveport hospital specializes in pediatric orthopedic conditions. This was Emily’s first visit and we had a van full of folks. Emily’s mother had an arm in a cast so it was a good thing we allowed both parents to go on the first trip. Her parents told us that Emily had several medical conditions from birth and said that she didn’t ride to well in a car seat. Naturally we replied as always that we could stop anytime we needed, traveling down the day before the appointments gave us all day to get there. Emily did fairly well, but just like her parents had warned, we had to stop ever so often and get the child out of her car seat. All in all it wasn’t a bad trip and with three patients, four parents and two Shriners we obviously didn’t run out of discussion topics and even had a few laughs. We were eleven miles from our final exit on a busy four lane highway with nowhere to pull over and Emily got to crying needing to get out of the car seat. The whole van was in tears, saying “Hold on Emily we will be there real soon.” We couldn’t get to our exit fast enough. No one wanted her to be in discomfort.

That evening when the whole group went out for supper, Vance offered to hold Emily so her parents could enjoy their meal. At that time Vance had a baby girl about the same age at home and his empathy level was way up. After about two seconds of holding little Emily, Vance fell totally in love with her and declared he was keeping her. He held that child the rest of the evening. Even though my own daughter was an adult by that time, I vividly remembered what it was like to hold something that precious in your arms. Neither Vance nor I have ever forgotten that experience.

The next morning we got everyone to the Shreveport Shriners Hospital for Children without any difficulty. While Vance and I were sitting in the lobby waiting for our charges to be seen by the doctors, Emily’s mother came out from the examination and treatment area in tears. Vance and I were very alarmed by this; normally the hospital lobby is a happy place full of playing children, parents, Nobles, hospital staff and volunteers. We asked her what was wrong and she told us that they were x-raying her baby. I was confused, especially since I had personally been x-rayed a couple of hundred times and knew there was nothing to it. I remember Vance saying that he was pretty sure that an x-ray didn’t hurt her. Emily’s mother wiped her tears and said, “You don’t understand, no one has ever x-rayed her before, they didn’t care about her legs.” With all the doctors and medical professionals that had seen little Emily since birth and knowing about all of her medical problems, these so called “professionals” had not bothered to find out what was causing this baby so much discomfort. This child was born in 1999 and it was now 2002; even with her mother asking them to x-ray her “they” didn’t see the need. I guess they figured that the child would never walk anyway, why bother. Emily’s mother was crying because finally someone was trying to help her child.

What these long overdue x-rays showed was that Emily’s hips were dislocated and most likely had been since birth. No wonder the poor baby didn’t like riding in a car seat. The Shreveport Shriners Hospital doctors performed surgery on Emily and fixed her hips. Emily made several more trips to Shreveport and I personally drove her two more times. The bad car seat days were over and you could not ask for a sweeter child to transport. Shriners did something to improve her quality of life. Even with all of her medical conditions, a Shriners Hospital made a difference. Being a person myself with an orthopedic condition, I do know what relief from pain means. I also understand what it is like to finally be able to walk across a room means. As an adult, I really have a lot of empathy for these children we treat. Think about it, you are in pain yet you are unable to communicate the cause of that pain for yourself. What would it mean if someone finally seeks to bring you relief?

The last trip I drove to Shreveport with Emily was less than a year before we lost her. We were riding along, I was being my normal self carrying on telling some crazy story or such when I hear Emily laugh. This laughter confused me because she was usually so quiet. Her mother explained that it was the tone of my voice and certain words I said that made her laugh. Talk about a blessing from heaven. That sweet child’s laughter touched the very essence of your soul. It really made me feel good to know that I had brought some joy into her life.

We are very saddened by losing Emily on this Earth but I believe that she is on that higher plane watching us. She surely knows what a Shriner is and every time one of us seeks to help a child, Emily is there. We may not be able to fix all of a child’s problems, but we can do what we can to improve their quality of life. Shriners help thousands of children each year from all over the world. We do not ever take any child for granted, they all are very important to us. Many people were blessed by knowing Emily Grace. She will forever be remembered. She will forever be loved.

Emily Grace Jenkins: October 16, 1999 – May 27, 2010
Memorials can be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children or the Hamasa Transportation fund in memory of Emily Grace Jenkins. Please contact the Hamasa Recorder’s Office at (601) 693-1361

Newsletter Mode….Turkey pastrami

I am 80% finished with the August 2010 Lee County Shrine Club newsletter. I have all of this stuff floating in my head and trying to determine how I will get what is left squeezed in. A lot of writing is editing and a lot of editing is cutting down on the extra fluff and repetitiveness that slips from your fingertips. Plus I had a few extra projects to knock out this week. One was the meat sale tickets for our Shrine Club. We will be cranking up the ole cooker again and selling Boston butts, ribs and briskets for Labor Day. I generated an order form with individual order numbers to keep things straight, but I bet there will still be a level of frustration present.

My article this month is something I had in my head for a couple of months. Since I didn’t produce a full newsletter last month I had to save it for August. It is one of those Shriner Hospital success stories but very sad as well. I got permission from the parents to run the article and they even sent me a photo to use. This sweet girl had a lot of medical problems but at least the Shriners Hospital for Children in Shreveport was able to make some improvement in her life. We lost her at the age of ten, but she will forever be remembered. I plan to post this article in this blog after I complete the newsletter.

I have been tied up with various projects and a trip to Cincinnati with a Shrine patient. I took another driver with me from the Pontotoc Shrine Club so he would be able to make more trips giving us more trained drivers to rely on. I handled our local transportation program while our chairman was in Toronto at the Imperial Shrine Session. That is a full time job. Many of our members and even leaders take these dedicated drivers for granted and the importance of what they give to our philanthropy is trivialized. I am thinking of a way to elevate the level of awareness of our transportation program and volunteer drivers.

I am back to reading. I recently read Anthony Bourdain’s latest “Medium Raw.” It was a follow up book to his popular “No Reservations.” I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed “No Reservations.” In spite of his past and his strong opinions Bourdain can write. I would recommend Bourdain to any “foodie” that likes read.

Another good book for any “foodie” is “Heat” by Bill Buford. I found this book in the bargain book section of a book store. It was actually a library book from Ontario, Canada.

The full title for this book is “Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.” After some on-line searching I have found where “Heat” has already been optioned for a movie. Mario Batali has said he wants Philip Seymour Hoffman to play him in the movie. Maybe it will make it and maybe not. I did enjoy the book and found some if the details of happenings in a three star kitchen to be revealing. One character mentioned in Bourdain’s book was also a subject in “Heat.” Both of these books give a good insight to the world of high class New York restaurants and the inside world of food. I do like Bourdain’s attitude towards fast food and his acknowledgement of needing to straighten his life out when he became a father. I am also glad I picked up the bargain book to read following Bourdain's latest.

While I am on the subject of food, I have enjoyed the new web page Food Network Humor. http://www.foodnetworkhumor.com/
These gals also have a free podcast and have a good time laughing it up at the expense of Food Network celebrities. They are also on Facebook and Twitter. Some of the stuff they post does make sense.

I am currently reading the new Daniel Silva book “The Rembrandt Affair” but I haven’t gotten enough into it to give any type of review comment. I expect it to be good based on his books in the past. I have enjoyed all of his previous work. Daniel Silva has become one of my favorite authors and I have been waiting for this new novel to come out. Waiting for the bargain rack won't do in this case, it was off to the book store on the release date for this one. I will admit I used the coupon Barnes & Noble e-mailed me for the purchase. So far what little I read from his latest work is right on track.

While on the subject of books, my wife and I paid a little visit to the Goodwill bookstore on McCullough Boulevard in Tupelo. It was pretty neat. It had a lot of decent books along with the normal stuff you would expect from donations. Some neat cookbooks to boot. The store was clean and well organized. We donated a few boxes of stuff to Goodwill and the guy was out to the car and had us unloaded in seconds. Goodwill has really stepped up their game. The people working at donation drop-offs have ten seconds to get to your vehicle. My wife has a friend that is the manager of the Corinth Goodwill store and this company is doing things to make them a major player in the retail market, all with donated goods. This bookstore is a pretty good place for a person that likes books.

Our dog has been driving us crazy; she has been sick again and spent another costly week at the vet. We already have to give her Phenobarbital for seizures and now she has to be on stomach medicine for her irritable bowel disorder. She is much better now because she has gone back to being annoying and spoiled rotten.

I do have one rant to express. We bought some sandwich meat at the grocery store, turkey pastrami. It’s not bad and low fat. I noticed the container was empty, my wife having finished it off, so I went to remove the label and dispose of the container. I like to save these plastic containers but when I am not looking my wife will slip them in the recycle bin. I noticed the label that they stick to the lid had “recipe idea on back” listed on it. Cool, I like recipes and wondered what they had cooked up to make with turkey pastrami. The recipe was for a turkey pastrami sandwich.
What?
Well duh? Who would have ever thought to make a sandwich with deli sliced sandwich meat? Have you ever needed a recipe to make a sandwich? I told my wife I was going to e-mail them and ask if they thought consumers were so stupid we needed a recipe to make a sandwich with sandwich meat. The recipe even lists to use two slices of bread. Damn, glad they clued us in on that. Maybe this time I won’t get mustard all over my hands. Two slices, who would of thought? You think someone stuck their head in the door of the marketing department on a Friday afternoon and said, “You guys get a recipe sent over to labeling for the turkey pastrami and you’re done for the day.” Poof, recipe done, sees ya Monday. Maybe I should e-mail them and ask about the recipe. Stating I am confused because they listed “dill pickles, sliced” in their recipe but they didn’t specify if it should be the crinkle cut pickles or the straight cut ones. Wait, could they mean the “sandwich” sliced pickles? It says to use two ounces of the sliced dill pickles, now I have to go out and buy a scale just to make a sandwich. Plus the recipe calls for three ounces of turkey pastrami per sandwich and there is only eight ounces in the package. So I either have to waste two ounces of meat after two sandwiches or I have to buy a total of three packages of deli sliced meat to make it even out. How in the heck am I supposed to eat eight turkey pastrami sandwiches? Wonder how they would respond to a lawsuit for mental anguish because of their recipe? Probably the same way most folks respond to my craziness. By the way I am keeping this recipe, you never know.