Outlook for April 2, 2015

By Melba Hendrix

Hello, hello, and good morning, salutations and all of that greeting good-stuff and manners on this last Monday in the month of March. I had not realized until just now that we have actually had six Mondays in this month. I suppose you could say that I have a kind of fascination about each month and the way the days fall as time goes by,

And, on Thursday, April 1st, I will celebrate my coming to Rayville to live. So, that is another reason for my thinking of April as my favorite month. I had never heard of Rayville in my growing up years in SE Arkansas, even though I was actually born in Louisiana over in the NW corner of the state near the town of Plain Dealing.

I had started school there in the first grade; but we moved to the SE corner of Arkansas when I was still in the first grade.

My dad wanted to gain title to some land which had been opened up for homesteaders in that part of Arkansas, so we moved in December of my first year in school. And, my dad did get title to 160 acres of prime bottom land; but, it came with a drawback of sorts. It was located a bit over a mile off the nearest graveled road on which the school bus traveled.

My youngest brother was six years older than I and we walked out together to catch the bus and had to wear rubber boots in the winter time to get out to where we could change into regular shoes. My brother finished high school in Dermott, Arkansas and then enlisted in the U. S. Army and our country was soon involved in WWII in Europe.

Those were unsettled times with all three of my brothers involved as soldiers in the U.S. Army. The first and the third brother went overseas and served in France and England during that time. My middle brother was the one who served in the Army that had to take over some of the islands in one of the war zones in the Philipine Islands. And, I do believe that he, Weldon, had the worst of combat duty. However, all three of them came home safe and sound after the end of WWII.

CHUCKLE #1 - A rather pudgy , obviously self-indulgent woman puffed her way into a doctor’s office.

“I want to reduce my weight, doctor,” she wheezed. “ What diet do you think is the best?”

The doctor stated: “ I have experimented with all of them, from the 18-Day diet and the 16 Formula Diets to the Daily Dozen diet and Two Meals A Day diet, but for cases like yours, I’ve found the 4-Word diet to be the most effective.”

“And, what is the 4-Word Diet?” asked the woman eagerly.

“No more, thank you,” was the doctor’s reply. (Hm-m-m. I don’t suppose she liked that answer........)

So, we move on in this effort and think a bit more about my coming here to live so many years ago. I had never actually heard of Rayville prior to January, l949 when my husband’s Uncle Dick Hendrix came up to Eudora, Arkansas where we were living with my husband’s family after we had returned from Colorado where our son, Kirby was born during our two years spent in that state.

Uncle Dick wanted to introduce us to all the Hendrix relatives living over the area of Richland Parish and we spent five weeks here January and February of that year. There had been a big snow about that time and it was on the streets in a slightly melted condition and dirty from the traffic. I thought Rayville was the most desolate looking town I had ever seen, little dreaming that it would soon become my home for the rest of my life. (As you can see, I have no desire to travel or see anymore of the world at my advanced age.)

CHUCKLE #2 - The hard-working wife was out mowing her lawn in a blazing sun when a passing neighbor paused to inquire, “Well, is your husband still taking things as easy as always?”

“My husband has only two regrets in his life,” was the weary reply. “One is that that he has to wake up to eat, and the other is that he has to stop eating to go to sleep.” ????

I am really looking forward to the coming of Spring and on into summer. And, yes, I do know that I will be having to turn on some air-conditioning in my home during those hottest summer months; but, I am a survivor and I intend to make the most of each day as it comes. And, I don’t worry and fret about the future. I find that each day is sufficient for me to do what I need to do and I am grateful for my good health and the ability to take care of myself without too much trouble. Oh, yes indeed.........

And, I look back at the month of March and recall what a trial we had with the freezing rain and snow that came during the first week. I had thought such weather would have come in January or February - but not in March with Spring just around the corner. ???? But, I did live through it and am now looking forward to April which is my most favorite month of all. (More about that next week.........)

Birthdays are soon coming up for some of our area folks and they are as follows: B. J. McKnight, Roger Whitten and Chance Williams on 4/3; Cindy Barfield and Gene DeWitt on 4/4; Tonya Childress, Martha Robbins and Jerri Head on 4/5 and for Jacob Romero on 4/8. And we do wish all of these birthday folks a most happy celebration of their special natal day and may they have many, many more happy birthdays in the future. Oh, yes indeed........

PARTING THOUGHT: Friends share things that other relationships simply cannot share. Sometimes they are serious; sometimes they are downright silly. Whatever their nature, it’s obvious that they happen just between friends. (Oh, yes, I have found that to be so true in my years of life.)