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Letters To The Editor Adventure of a lifetime:
Dear Editor, This
is a letter that I have started over and over because, not wanting to
sound like a mush, I could never find the right words to finish. Now, I
am just going to put my heart out there and tell it like it is. I
believe all good things happen for a reason. I am on the
adventure of my life. My husband, George, and I moved to this wonderful
small town by choice six years ago. We were looking for a community
where the people were warm and friendly and truly cared about their
neighbors. If you have never lived outside of Holly Springs, you may
not realize what you have. Like most mothers, wives and working
women, making time to take care of ourselves is not high on our list of
priorities. We think we are invincible. Well girls, we are not! For
example, I continued to put off my yearly mammogram for a multitude of
reasons: my ob-gyn died, no history of breast cancer, too busy to take
the day off to make the trip to the Women’s Breast Center in Memphis or
Oxford, the old stand-by “I will take care of that tomorrow” and the
list goes on and on. Late this past September, for no reason at
all, I woke up one morning and thought to myself – mammogram. I said
something to my husband, George, who by the way did not know that I had
put off my mammogram for years, and he said, “You don’t have to drive
to Memphis or Oxford, our hospital, Alliance HealthCare, can take care
of your yearly mammogram. Again I thought, “I will take care of that
tomorrow.” We had dinner with dear friends that weekend and, as usual,
the men were in the den watching a ball game and the women were in the
kitchen involved in girl talk. Somehow the topic of mammograms came up
out of nowhere. I told her that same old put-off, “I’ll deal with that
another day.” The next day I was in Williams Medical Clinic because of
a problem with my foot, a pain that I could not put off, and I ran into
my dear friend Jo, with whom we had had dinner the night before. Jo
looked me square in the face like good girl friends do and asked if I
had made my mammogram appointment. I said no, and she said no problem,
she could take care of that for me right away. I had no more excuses. The
next day I was in the waiting area of our local hospital with a
scheduled mammogram on my agenda. This was so easy, no three-four week
wait for an appointment, no long drive with lots of traffic, no
two-hour wait once I was there and, best of all, Terry Leeks greeted me
with a beautiful, warm and friendly smile. My mammogram was
completed in a timely and professional manner. Then Terry put me at
ease by saying I was not the only woman she knew who had put off a
mammogram. Once again with that beautiful, calming smile Terry said,
“Don’t worry if you get a call from the office asking you to have
another mammogram. Sometimes we need that when a patient has not had a
mammogram for a number of years.” Well, I got that call. And actually
I was expecting it, so I didn’t get terribly upset because Terry had,
in her thoughtful way, set the stage. In retrospect I believe she saw
something during my exam and this was her way of easing me into my next
big life adventure. I had the follow-up mammogram and then a
consultation with Dr. Williams who, by the way, lived up to all the
wonderful things I had heard about him. Telling a 60-year-old woman it
appears she may have breast cancer cannot be an easy task, but the good
doctor was so reassuring that neither George nor I were in a state of
panic. We followed his suggestions regarding the development of a plan
of action to beat this disease and began our battle. After many
consultations and several surgeries, I am now well on my way to a full
recovery. I understand the power of prayer firsthand and I want to
thank each and every one of the wonderful, thoughtful, giving people in
our special community who so graciously prayed for my recovery. I
want to take this opportunity to remind all the ladies that they do not
need to put off medical exams that can and should be done right here in
Holly Springs. “Thank you,” Dr. Williams and your professional staff
at Alliance HealthCare. Forever grateful,
Laurie Gwin Childers’ slick pamphlet:
Dear Editor, On
6-23-10, upon going through my mail, I came upon a slick, colorful
pamphlet of Congressman Travis Childers helping pass five laws. There’s
one thing he forgot to put in that pamphlet, the “main” contribution he
also helped enact into law, the law that started the whole downfall of
our economy. That law the infamous “health care reform” that every blue
dog so-called conservative Democrat voted for; I call caved into to
follow Obama, Pelosi and Harry Reid off the cliff. A $800 billion
healthcare like that of socialist Europe - which is moving away from
social health care now. Now to the five laws he has in said slick
pamphlet: (1) “Voting against Wall Street bailouts” Wall Street
banks that his party voted to bail out. The big banks that donated
millions to the Democrat party. (2) “Congressional Pay Raises”
Rep. Childers says “With the national debt piling up at our children’s
feet, the last thing we need is to spend more money on pay raises for
Congress.” Well, after you passed that $800 billion health care
debacle, you Democrats didn’t want to just fall off the cliff and hit
the total shameless bottom. No. (3) “Cutting Wasteful Spending”
Now on this one, how stupid do they believe we are? Oh yeah, I forgot
about the millions Pelosi sent to studying how sea-rats uh...mate. And
how about 1 million concrete tunnel for turtles, etc., etc., etc. Oh!
Almost forgot about the millions to some Democrat’s state for new rails
for a train that hasn’t been used in 10 years. Congressman Childers
also supported “ear-marks”- code word porkbarrel spending. Also he
brags of reform the ways the Defense Department contracts with private
entities; don’t keep supporting private small business contractors,
give it to us - the government to control like your health care, Mr.
Childers! No. (4) “Real Tax Relief” OK, OK. You are trying to
lighten things a little by using such a title, right? Let’s see, you,
Reid, Pelosi and Obama are extending some estate tax relief? What?
After you all added $2.4 trillion to the deficit, there’s no estate we
have left for our children and grandchildren. Tax relief for small
business, you Democrats can actually say such a stupid thing after you
and liberal Republicans just passed “Finance Reform” that will crush
our small hometown banks as Mr. Taylor of Merchants and Farmers Bank
wrote in this paper a few weeks ago. Why, the next thing you know,
you’ll come out as an Independent this November as did Florida Gov.
Charles Crist did after falling in the polls. See, I noticed on your
pamphlet you didn’t state you were the Democratic candidate, kind of
like your leader Harry Reid’s son running for office in Nevada using in
ads and posters - “Tory for Congress” – too ashamed to use Daddy’s last
name. Now that is slick and glossy. Connie Lewis
Lamar
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