The MRI and the Crooner

You gotta love it when you take your Dad to have a MRI (his 5th) and when he is finished, he wheeled out singing Luther Vandross.


MRI Tech:   Ms. Ford, your Dad is finished.

ME:  Thanks

MRI TECH:  He did really well.

ME:  (smiles)

*** I go into the room…wait for Dad. The MRI Tech wheels him out ***

DADDY:  Babygirl, I was listening to Luther!
(hands raised like he is about to croon)

ME:   Really? (smiling hard)

DADDY: Yeah…Luther Vandross.  I love me some Luther!
(makes the iconic do do do do doooo Luther sound)

DADDY: (singing, while being wheeled to the dressing room)
“A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sittin’ there
But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home….”


I love how this Man has taught me to find joy during harsh moments

Wow!! WOW!!!! PART 2

My previous post (https://builtfordtough.org/wow-wow/ ) has ignited some wonderful responses on my Facebook Page (Regan Ford).  So much so that my Mom and the author of the original email are going to meet.  And…get this, she has found the program with my Mom’s autograph. I kept the author’s name from the original post, but she has given me permission to let you all know.

This is part of the original email thread that I previously posted:

– Regan – Forgive my intrusion, but I saw your name on the Capitol Hill list serve. By any chance is your mother’s name Antoinette? If so, I still remember your name from 1975! –

I replied:

– Yes, Antoinette is my Mom. Oh Em Gee. How do we know each other? –

She replied:

– Regan – we don’t know each other, but your mother was an absolutely awesome speaker at a forum I attended in Washington. Coming from Michigan, she was the first truly professional woman I had ever seen. I know it sounds corny now, but I went up and got her autograph. I still have it. Just tell her I said “thank you”. I have had an awesome career in Washington, at least in part thanks to her. –

I replied:

– WOW!!! –

The person who sent this email and who was inspired by Mom is Lawranne Stewart.

Lawranne Stewart is the retired Chief Counsel for the House Financial Services Committee.  She is currently on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) serving as Interim Senior Counsel for Chairman Timothy Massad.  She previously served as Chief Counsel to the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, spending a total of 13 years on committee staff, where she had major roles in federal housing policy, securities law, derivatives, TARP and the Dodd-Frank Act.  Prior to that, Ms. Stewart worked at the Department of Treasury as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance and as Associate Director of government securities regulation in the Bureau of Public Debt. She began her service in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Board after graduating from NYU Law School.

Wow!!!  She has my Mom’s autograph…and KEPT it!!!!