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Featured Comic: Moxie by Shawn Raymond
Humor Column: What's in a Name
Family Story: The Curio Cabinet
By LaVonn Black
What's in a Name
What’s in a Name?
The Navy Chief noticed a new seaman and barked at him, “What’s your name, sailor?”
“John,” the new seaman replied.
“Look, I don’t know what kind of bleeding heart, namby-pamby, feel good kind of philosophy that they’re teaching in boot camp these days, but I don’t call anyone by their first name,” The Chief growled. “It breeds familiarity and that inevitably leads to a serious breakdown in authority. We aren’t working at the local mini market, son where we’ll get chatty about your pimple problem or what you watched on TV last. We are in the U.S. Navy, son and I refer to my sailors by their last names only: Smith, Johnson, Miller, and so on. And you will refer to me as Chief, and only Chief. Is that clear, sailor?”
“Aye, aye, Chief!”
“Then, tell me, what is your name sailor?”
“Darling, Chief. My name is John Darling.”
“Okay, John, here’s what we’re going to do…”
The Curio Cabinet by LaVonn Black
I had done some traveling while I was in the military and had gathered a nice collection of souvenirs from Europe. We had been married quite a few years when my husband asked me why I didn’t display any of my collectibles. I didn’t really have a good spot for them so they sat in boxes in the attic.
We were in the middle of some home improvement project when suddenly a delivery truck arrived shortly before Christmas. The moving men carried in a beautiful three paned glass and oak curio cabinet with a mirror in the back that illuminated with a plug-in light. I was home alone when it arrived and I found a temporary home for the movers to put it. I thought it would be nice if it came when the work was done and I wasn’t sure how small children and a German Shepherd dog would do with such a fragile piece of furniture. So I can’t say I was all that excited about it, but I appreciated my husband’s idea that I would like to display my treasures.
Our children were around 5 and 8 years old and I will always remember the expressions on their faces when they saw the cabinet. They both squealed with delight and ran upstairs to their rooms to get the items they were the most proud of to put in this showpiece. Our son brought down his pinewood derby cars, a lensatic compass and a wooden airplane. Our daughter brought a nice fossil and a painted glass box. My husband and I looked at each other in surprise.
It sits in a corner of our living room and is often covered with mud from the dogs’ tails, dust from the country roads and hidden by our Christmas tree in the winter season, but it holds some of the most precious items in our household. The Kachina Dolls and pottery faces both of our children made in elementary school, the dog figurines and lighted crystals from local fairs, a real stuffed frog with a violin my husband carried all the way back for me on the plane on a business trip. It holds a dried lily pad from a day on a boat at my parents farm as well as a bird’s nest we found on a walk on my childhood cow paths. We found it on a visit home and my brother saved it and sent to me one Christmas. He said he knew that I would probably like it in our tree. Yes, through the years it has become the protector of our memories. On top sits the statue of Jesus that David bought when we were first married, a doll that we found in Amish Country that looked just like our first baby and our son’s Eagle statue from his Boy Scout achievement. It holds the candles from Prom and just the other day my daughter asked if she could put something else in the curio. I’m curious what it is. All those souvenirs from those far off countries that the curio was first intended are still in the attic. I haven’t seen them in years, but it doesn’t really matter to me. Even today I still see those small children and the excitement of a surprise for their Mom. Sometimes the best things are not the way we plan them. Life has a way of giving us the unexpected and it’s better than we could imagine.
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