t’s not that often that I receive feedback on my columns, and I get that; I know my million or so readers have busy lives. So when I received three emails last week referencing three different columns, it warmed the cockles of my heart. (I had to Google what a cockle of the heart actually is. In case you’re wondering, too, it refers to the heart’s chambers. Merriam Webster online actually defines it as the “core of one’s being,” which I like better).
I remember it from one of my favorite movies: Woody Allen’s “Love and Death.”
Sonja: He kissed me.
Boris: Any place I should know about?
Sonja: He warmed the cockles of my heart.
Boris: That’s just great. Nothing like hot cockles.
But back to the feedback.
The first email I received was from a lady name Diane, who’d read my column about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. She wrote:
“Yes, I sort of know Larry Bird. Rather, I graduated with Mike, his older brother, and funny enough, my husband taught Larry in junior high school. When you grow up in a town like French Lick, you know everybody and their brother. The Birds were just hard-working folk, and the kids lost their father when they were fairly young. Larry’s mother was one of the hardest working, kindest and most generous women you’d ever meet. Needless to say, I really enjoyed your article in last Friday’s Daily Record. In fact, I’m taking it home to my husband.”
Thanks Diane, and no one said it better than Magic – “There was only one Larry Bird.”
Next was an email from a lady who’d read my column on Jan. 24 about obituaries. One of the obits I wrote about that day was one KM read to me. This particular gentleman’s obit read that he “passed away Tuesday with his faithful and constant canine companion Suzie.” I wrote I was still wondering about that one.
But no more, thanks to a friend of the family, who wrote,
“Mr. Edwards,
The gentleman in question was a farmer in the Delta who’d been looking over his fields in preparation for the spring planting. His dog, Suzie, accompanied him daily in his farm truck, and as they were making their way home that Tuesday evening, they were struck by a train and killed.
A friend of the family,
F. Davis”
Thanks to F. Davis for caring enough to pass that news along.
The last email came to me over the weekend from someone named Kelley, who’d read my column about Riverfest and KM’s revelation about the $40 ticket price. Kelley wrote:
“Tell KM $20 Riverfest tickets are available at Walgreens starting Tuesday and running through May 22, and that the cumulative ticket price to see the 12 headliners individually would cost $810.
Or start reading the paper for yourself so you don’t continue to share misleading or at least incomplete information.”
Needless to say, KM was inconsolable for seconds after hearing this. I told her it wasn’t really her fault. It’s not like there’s a Walgreen’s on every corner. But she’s Irish, and with green eyes flaring, she went to the Riverfest website where she found this:
“Online tickets are available now for $35 for a three-day admission. (Three-day tickets at the gate will be $40.) Children 10 and under are admitted for free with a paid adult. $20 half-price tickets will be available at Walgreens beginning April 1, 2014. – Riverfestarkansas.com
So both KM and Kelley are right: Kelley, for accusing me of reporting incomplete info, and KM, because she lets me live with her.
I do appreciate the emails. Please keep them coming, unless, of course, “hot cockles” offends you.