Christmas this year was
wonderful. Brian and Lisa (my
brother and sister-in-law) came
up from New Orleans, Brian and
Shanna (my brother-in-law and
sister-in-law) were in town, and
of course my parents and
Sherri’s parents were in town,
all to celebrate Christmas. We
went to Sunday morning service
at my church, First Baptist
Church of Natchitoches, LA. It
was great to see everybody, and
the most touching moment was
when they gave me a standing
ovation at the opening of the
service. Not much in this world
has brought tears to my eyes,
but that sure came pretty
close.
It
was an interesting time trying
to get used to being around
people while in a wheelchair.
I’m a 6’3”, 210 lbs (more like
185-190 now) guy who has not had
to look up at many people while
I talked to them, so the fact
that I’m now like 4’2” has taken
some getting used to. It was
never that bad in the hospital
with visitors because we would
invite everyone to sit down, so
I never had to talk to anybody
who was constantly standing.
It’s just something that I’m
getting used to.
We went to the
Christmas Eve service at
Sherri’s church, First United
Methodist Church of
Natchitoches, LA. Along with
getting to see everybody else, I
got to meet up with a long time
friend, Matt Speir. He’s
getting special recognition here
because few friends would drive
down to Texas, spend 6 days and
nights in a hospital, run
wheelchair races through the
halls at night, and just put up
with me in general, but he did.
Sherri’s family has a certain
place that they sit for every
time they go to church, but
there are a couple of designated
spots where people in
wheelchairs can roll in, so her
whole family along with my
parents, moved over and occupied
two entire pews. Needless to
say, this threw off the entire
balance of the seating system of
First Methodist that night. But
it was great to get to see all
of our friends at her church, as
well as all of our friends and
family at our church that
morning.
We’ve spent time with both sets
of parents, and also gone out to
eat with our grandparents.
We’ve done dinner with one
family and then switched over
the next night. Uncle Chuck and
Aunt Mimi surprised us when we
had dinner with my parents. I
hadn’t gotten to see them since
I’ve been home, and it was great
to get to spend a good meal
visiting. Mostly, Sherri and I
have enjoyed sleeping in late
since at the Houston VA, I had
to be up for therapy (not that
therapy was a bad thing at all,
I love you guys). But yeah,
getting the chance to sleep
until 10, or 12, or maybe 4 was
great.
Sherri and I did do our first
trip to Wal-Mart today.
Yes, Wal-Mart is the
Natchitoches mall, so it’s a big
thing for anybody who has never
had the wonderful opportunity to
visit Natchitoches. So
I’ve learned another couple of
things that I’m going to have to
get used to: little kids
staring, everybody thinking that
their carts are going to be in
the way and moving them, and (my
favorite) cashiers looking down
and speaking to me like I’m 10
years-old. I’m sure the
cashier thing was just a fluke
“happened-two-times-in-a-row-with-two-different-cashiers”
kind of thing. After
Wal-Mart, we went to City Bank
and visited with all of the
people that Sherri has worked
with for the past 5 years.
It’s wonderful to go there and
see how much everybody cares
about her and genuinely enjoys
seeing her again. We got a
chance to see a lot of people
and also finalize plans for duck
hunting this Saturday.
Papa and Grandmother Pierson
wanted to take us out to dinner
with just the four of us. So
we all went to the Ducournau (pronounced Doo-kin-o)
Restaurant and had a great
dinner with them. It’s been
about a decade since I’ve had
grandparents that lived in the
same town as I did, and I tell
you that I am truly blessed in
every aspect of my life. I
think over the past year,
between Ranger School, getting
married, and getting shot, all
of my priorities have shifted,
and I couldn’t be happier with
where they are right now. I
think that I really have a grasp
on what’s truly important in
life and what’s not.
Houston is on my mind. Sherri
and I really miss all the people
and organizations. We’re waiting on my
“custom wheelchair” (which was
measured to fit my body) to be
delivered to the Houston VA.
When it comes in, they will call
us and we will schedule a period
of several days (we’re not sure
how long yet) where Sherri and I
will go back to Houston. I will
work with the therapists during
this time on wheelchair mobility
with the new chair. We will be
staying in the Fisher House, and
not in a regular room. I’m going to try from
sometime near the 2nd
week of January, but I don’t
know how much I’m at the mercy
of the Houston VA as far as
scheduling goes.
So
I got the chance to go hunting
this past Sunday and Monday
mornings with family and friends
at my in-law’s “duck lodge.” I
say “duck lodge” like that
because it’s more like a “duck
mansion” than some little
hunting camp. I mean the
kitchen and living rooms in this
place are enough to make most
people drool in desire, and
that’s not even mentioning the
fully furnished 6 bedrooms with
bathrooms for each. This place
has about a dozen ponds and
reservoirs that have blinds for
each. Most of the blinds are
permanent blinds that are buried
about 4 feet in the ground, and
are big enough where 4 people
with a lot of gear could hunt
very comfortably. Well anything
that is already 4 feet below
ground level may as well be 50
feet down because there’s no way
that I could get out of that
thing in my current state. My
father-in-law decided that we
would just hunt straight out of
the gator (a gator is a
6-wheeled vehicle that is made
by John Deere) and just drape
camo fabric all over it and make
it into a moving blind. So we
put Jack, my father-in-law’s
95lbs black lab, in the back
seat of the gator, and we pulled
into the middle of one of the
more shallow ponds. Mr. Bobby,
my father-in-law, had hip waders
on so he was the one who put out
the decoys and fixed up the
gator’s camouflage, while I sat
in the passenger seat and held
our shotguns. We got settled
and waited for the ducks to come
flocking to us. Well the first
day was great. We must have
seen 400 to 500 ducks…all on the
other end of the pond that we
were on, and well out of our
range. But it was fun to watch
that many ducks as the sun came
up. Monday was a different day
all together though. There were
hardly any ducks in the sky.
And the one’s that did come, all
waited until Mr. Bobby and I
were in the middle of a cup of
coffee or hot chocolate.
I’ve always been a big shooter
and hunter, so I’m not even
about to let something little
like this stop me from shooting,
but balancing while shooting is
kind of a big deal. So I’ve
developed this way of shooting
my shotgun with just my right
hand (thank goodness I have a
semi-auto shotgun and not a
pump) while I keep my balance
with my left hand on my lap.
This has worked pretty well for
me, but needless to say, the
duck population of Louisiana
should not feel threatened by me
right now. Well, the ducks
would come in while we both were
drinking, so I would shoot at
them one-handed because that’s
the way I shoot now anyway.
Well, not to be the only one not
shooting, Mr. Bobby decides to
do the same thing. So picture
two guys with coffee in their
left hands and shotguns in their
right, and still trying to shoot
at the ducks whenever they fly
by. And now I want you to
picture two rednecks sitting on
a porch somewhere in the woods,
drinking a beer in their left
hand and shooting wildly at a
random coon-dog that sprints
by. And now you have the reason
why Mr. Bobby and I laughed
uncontrollably at the sight of
ourselves.
So
all-in-all, the experiences were
wonderful ones, and the visiting
with family was wonderful, but
the only thing we killed in the
end was time.
Sherri
and I
are
heading
back to
Houston
this
next
Thursday,
18JAN.
I’m not
sure how
long
we’ll be
there.
Also, I
went
deer
hunting
this
past
weekend
and
killed a
7-point
white
tail.
I’ve got
the
story
and
picture
that
I’ll
post
soon.
On a
very
somber
note,
the
first
soldier
from my
platoon
was
killed
this
past
week.
SPC Ryan
Berg was
the
driver
for my
Bradley,
and
easily
one of
my
favorite
and best
soldiers.
I wanted
this guy
on my
track
because
of his
personality
and
spirit,
and
robbed
my
platoon
sergeant
of him
because
that was
the
track he
was on
before
mine. I
can
never
say
enough
great
stuff
about
this guy
and his
wife,
Katie.
He went
on his
2-week
R&R in
December
and the
first
thing he
did when
he got
in
country
was
drive
with his
wife to
come
visit me
in the
hospital.
That
doesn’t
even
scratch
the
surface
of the
kindness
and
loyalty
this guy
had in
his
heart,
or how
close I
felt to
him as
his
platoon
leader.
I could
honestly
go on
forever
about
this
guy, but
I just
want
everybody
who
reads
this to
please
pray for
his
family
during
this
time in
their
lives.
He made
an
impact
on me,
and I’ll
never
forget
him.
Sherri and I just got back from our second trip to Houston. This trip was scheduled around going to pick up that custom made wheelchair that we’ve all heard so much about, and also going up for job interviews. We chose the date several weeks ago, and never thought that the trip would include a visit to Sabine Pass, TX, to see the funeral of Ryan Berg, my driver and friend from 1st CAV.
I have so many hilarious stories of Ryan that there isn’t enough time in the day to write them all. He started off being the driver of my Platoon Sergeant’s track, but he ended up making such a good impression on me over the course of a couple months, that I made him my driver. He always said “Hey sir, you know you want me as your driver,” and I’d always jokingly reply that he knew better, and that he wasn’t good enough to be the 31 Track’s driver. This guy was the most honest and straight forward guy in the platoon. If he didn’t like you, he’d let you know and likewise if he loved you, he’d let you know. He was married shortly before we deployed to his beautiful and loving wife, Katie. One day, back when I was still in the Houston VA Hospital, we got a phone call from a girl that said “Hey, we’re just leaving Ft. Hood,” and then they hung up without identifying themselves. So we didn’t know what to think and forgot about the phone call shortly. Well later that day, I got a phone call from the nurse’s station saying that “my driver” was outside and wanted to see me. I quickly hung up the phone and screamed “Berg!!!” I didn’t see it, but Katie told me that he took off running for my room. He had come home for his 2-week R&R to be home for Christmas and New Year’s, and before he even went home to see his family, he came by his BC’s (Bradley Commander’s) hospital room to visit. He told me that nothing could have kept him from coming straight there as soon as he got the chance. Well nothing could have kept me from going to pay my respects to my soldier, my driver, and my friend. Ryan Berg died at the age of 19, and his death has made a huge impact on me. I always said that I didn’t know what I would do or think if one of my guys got hit, especially one of the guys that I was really close with. I always thought that I could keep it from happening when I was over there by trying to make smart decisions and checking up on them to make sure they were doing the right thing. Coming back to the States made me worried, scared, and anxious. Platoon Leader was the greatest job in the world, and now I wasn’t able to be with my guys anymore. I always wonder if I would have been able to change things if I had been over there; maybe things would be different now.
The job interviews were good because they made me think about something else. Bill York is an young grad from West Point (and let me add that he ran a sub 7:00 split on a 3-mile run over the Christmas holidays, so he should not be considered an “old” grad at all) who has been helping me find potential new careers, and he’s also been a blessing for me and Sherri. He has worked his tail off finding the best possible employers and also helping us with general Houston information. He scheduled the different interviews, made sure we knew how to get there, and then took Sherri out to lunch and showed her different neighborhoods, when one of the interviews was going to last a long time. The endstate of the job interview week was a very positive one. Sherri and I have a lot of opportunities to think and pray about. We’ve been speaking with several people about future apartments to move into while we build a house, but the job search is driving the train.
Our plans now are to stay in Natchitoches, in our apartment, until we decide on a job and when I’m ready to work. We’ll move into an apartment that is close to our jobs and close to where we want to build, and stay there during the building process. After the house is done, we’ll move in and build a picket fence (joking) and live happily ever after.
My
e-mail is
daniel.ebarb@us.army.mil