OPINION
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
7A
www.azlenews.net
In sickness and in health...well, mainly sickness
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hen you’ve been married a long time – the Bride and I are pushing 40 years together – you eventually run out of new things to do as a couple. But, we recently found some original terrain, something new to share: We both got sick at the same time. (Now we had been sore at the same time – for a few days after Feb. 27, 2004 when a drunk hit and rolled our truck [it’s true: some days are way more memorable than others], but never sick at the same time.) Recently we shared being puny together, including wolfing down overthe-counter meds while staring into each other’s reddened, watery eyes. Because I’m a notoriously poor
sleeper – I’ve been binge-watching Sea Hunt against my will at 3:30 many mornings these past few months – I’m used to seeing the dead of night. I write columns, eat Cherrios, and watch Lloyd Bridges solve underwater dilemmas. The other day, the Bride was felled by whatever it is that’s going around; it’s always called “the crud.” Since we’ve enjoyed some warm winter days, the culprit was deemed to be the dreaded mountain cedar; whatever the case, there were mighty bouts of stereo coughing, sneezing, and nose blowing that made sleep next to impossible. Throughout our decades together, I have had a few instances where I was slowed by ailments – a couple of flu incidents, nocturnal toothaches, and
some elective surgeries. But the Bride’s constitution is unusually mighty. I’m the guy who gets seasick, the one who gets indigestion from hidden onions. ON YOUR She got pneumonia back in MARK the 1980’s just Mark K. Campbell when we had friends arrive from Colorado; she could not get out of bed then. But that’s the only time I can remember her really waylaid – until now when she got the p-new-moan-
ya again. Before that, however, we both were hacking and miserable; no one was healthy enough to care for the other. There’s nothing like getting sick to mess up your schedule. Like most couples, we have stuff we need to do mapped out months in advance. When that’s knocked a-kilter, the world gets weird. As noted, being up at strange times is not unusual to me. I’ve written columns at 4 a.m. – this one’s being typed at 3:20 – and, back in my fire department days, I leapt out of bed in a pitch black bedroom and found myself in another pitch black bedroom five minutes later – only this one was several hundred degrees hotter. So, I’ve always had a queer sleep
schedule. But the Bride is the penultimate anti-morning person. She would’ve made a horrible firefighter; the engine won’t wait for two cups of coffee to be consumed before even considering moving from the covers. As I write, she struggles in the bedroom, filled with Sprite and phlegm and surrounded by piles of tissues. I’m in the same boat but not quite as bad, so, between coughing fits, I bring her meds. I had been searching for something special to herald our 40th anniversary coming this August. Sharing diseased funk was not on the list. But it’s something new, and…oh, I see it’s 3:30. Time for Sea Hunt. Mark K. Campbell is the News editor and should buy stock in Robitussin.
One day at a time
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o, how are you doing?” being new every morning could not Sometimes that’s the possibly understand the struggles that only thing we can think the rest of us face. to ask. Perhaps the issue I’d like to remind you (and me) that is illness, grief, job loss, those words come from a book called re-bellious children (or LAMENTATIONS! parents)…I could go on and on. SomeThis is a book of the Bible comtimes the hits just keep on coming. posed entirely of expressions of grief I’ve heard it said that you are ei- in poetry and song. The author is ther in a problem, just came out of a grieving over the destruction of Jeruproblem, or are just about to enter into salem, the Hebrew people’s infidelity a problem. (To keep going with my to God, and punishment at the hands recent theme, we’ll call them “situ- of the Babylonians. ations.”). Nobody – I MEAN NONote the verses immediately preBODY – gets a pass. ceding the ones above: So, we’ve all either asked or have “He drove into my kidneys the arbeen asked the question, rows of his quiver; I have “So, how are you doing?” become the laughingstock A common answer: of all peoples, the object of “We’re just trying to take their taunts all day long. He it one day at a time.” has filled me with bitterness; How else can you take he has sated me with wormit, really? We only GET wood. He has made my teeth one day at a time, even in grind on gravel, and made the best of times. So, how me cower in ashes; my soul can we take those words is bereft of peace; I have from cliche to foundaforgotten what happiness is; tional reality? I’m thinkso I say, ‘My endurance has ing of these words from perished; so has my hope the Bible: from the Lord.’ Remember “The steadfast love of LIFE MATTERS my affliction and my wanthe Lord never ceases; his derings, the wormwood and mercies never come to an Gerry Lewis the gall! My soul continually end; they are new every remembers it and is bowed morning; great is your faithfulness. down within me. But [wait for it – em‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my phasis mine] this I call to mind, and soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” therefore I have hope.” (3:13-21) (Lamentations 3:22-24, English StanThis is not someone who has it easy. dard Version) This is someone who knows that there Many who grew up in church are is only one knot to hang onto at the familiar with the hymn based on that end of the rope; someone who knows passage: “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” that his life matters to God no matter If you are unfamiliar with the book what it may feel like today. of Lamentations, you may think that One. Day. At. A. Time. this was obviously written by some- Azle resident Dr. Gerry Lewis is director of misone who has had an easy path. Cer- sions for the Harvest Baptist Association, which tainly someone who could write about is headquartered in Decatur. He writes a blog at www.drgerrylewis.com. God’s faithfulness and His mercies
Farmers, ranchers set priorities
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he Texas Legislature is back in session, and Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) members from across the state are working with their lawmakers to ensure the future of agriculture is bright. “Every year, TFB members from Parker County work with legislators on important issues,” Don Smelley, Parker County Farm Bureau president said. “We talk about the issues in our area and the things we’d like to see ac-
complished.” This year, TFB’s legislative priorities include: protecting the water rights of farmers, ranchers and landowners; protecting private property rights affected by the Endangered Species Act; supporting long-term funding for road construction and maintenance; and continuing to advocate for changes to the eminent domain process to better protect private property right. “We work hard to have good relationships with our legislators,” Smelley said. “We explain why the issues
are important to agriculture and rural Texas.” Parker County Farm Bureau encourages its members to stay in touch with their legislators throughout the session. To find your senator or representative, click the “Voter Voice” link under the Legislative tab on TexasFarmBureau.org. The legislative section of the website also includes updates on issues facing rural Texas and agriculture throughout the legislative session.
Definition of ‘West Texas’ means many different things
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friend let me borrow a big book entitled West Texas by Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin. John T. Montford, chancellor of Texas Tech when the book came out in 1999, wrote the Introduction. He said, “There is not a sunset or sunrise anywhere in the United States that compares with those in West Texas.” So, what is West Texas besides great sunsets? It's a land of wind. Drive west on I-20 and start counting the wind machines generating electricity for local citizens and others farther away. The city of Sweetwater, west of Abilene, has a good supply of the wind machines. It's oil rich. I used to count pumping oil wells as I approached the town of Post on my way to Lubbock, and then I counted the ones on the other side of town as I continued northward. I generally counted 100 or more. I haven't driven that route lately, however. For early pioneers or visitors, some
THE
found it “unfit.” In 1856, a traveler named W. B. Parker wrote about traveling through Texas, most of which had yet to be explored. He said, “For all purposes of human habitation – except it might be for a penal colony – these wilds are totally unfit.” Someone wrote that early settlers called Texas “hell on horses and women.” West Texas is made up of large areas of sparse population, stretches where small towns are dwindling of people who have moved to big cities. In many instances, it is ranch country with little rain that takes a lot of acres to support a few head of cattle. One part-time cowman I know had to sell his small herd when all four of the water tanks on his land dried up. West Texas is a proliferation of barbeque restaurants competing with mom and pop cafes that serve huge chicken fried steaks. When I attended a convention in Alpine in 2012, Brewster County was celebrating its 125th birthday. The hundreds of attendees at an open-air, luncheon celebration on the courthouse square (including me) were
321 W. Main Street Azle, Texas 76020 (817) 270-3340 www.azlenews.net MEMBER 2015
served heaping plates of barbecued beef with all the “fixins” for only $5. What else would do? West Texas makes up twothirds of the state of Texas! One writer noted that from PAGES FROM Fort Worth WESTERN eastward to the border with ArHISTORY kansas is about J’Nell L. Pate 200 miles, but it is 600 miles to El Paso! Two-thirds of the people don't live in West Texas, however. Most of the population is concentrated in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. This definition is stretching the area of West Texas to everything west of Fort Worth, including the Panhandle and the South Plains. West Texas is cowboys and periodic rodeos.
Publisher Kim Ware Editor Mark K. Campbell
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST
AWARD WINNER 2014
Of course, Fort Worth just finished having its annual rodeo. Stamford has a cowboy reunion each July, and Pecos claims the world's largest amateur rodeo. Regular ranch cowboys sometimes also have periodic competitions. Concerning just cowboys herding cattle on ranches, things have been modernized. Instead of horses, pickup trucks prevail. Instead of cattle being fattened on the open range, owners sell them to feedlots. West Texas is Friday night football during the fall. The movie Friday Night Lights was about Odessa Permian High School. Texas takes its high school football more seriously than most states. Indeed, many high school athletes get college scholarships and end up in the NFL. One can recognize West Texas towns by looking at a map: Bovina, Bronco, Buffalo Gap, Cactus, Canyon, Hereford, Lariat, Llano, Muleshoe, Ropesville, Spur, Study Butte. West Texas is Fort Worth and everything west of Interstate 35. Fort Worthians claim the city is “Where the West Begins” because if
one draws a vertical line from north to south to divide the U.S. in half, it would run through Fort Worth. We make that claim loud and clear and have done so for over a century. After all, the Chisholm Trail came through, sending cattle drives northward to the railroad in Abilene. Also, Fort Worth, especially former Star-Telegram owner Amon G. Carter, helped West Texas to grow, because Fort Worth looked west for its market. Fort Worth organized the West Texas Chamber of Commerce to help sell Fort Worth products and to encourage receipts to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Fort Worth became the recipient of the West Texas oil boom in the 1920s (Eastland, Ranger, Breckenridge, Cisco), because the city built the refineries. It also was the center of oil speculation as well. Wealthy oil men built mansions in Fort Worth. I'm thrilled to be a West Texan, can you tell? Retired history professor J’Nell Pate of Azle has authored several books, many of which are on sale in the lobby of the Azle News.
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