First Gentleman

Hello. Glad you could stop by.  Hope this read brightens  your day.

As I see it, the biggest question facing our nation  on down the line,  is whether  or not we ’re ready to accept a “First Gentleman” in the White House (and  if he’s not a gentleman, then what?)

Sooner or later some smart women is going to surface, (whose husband thought she was running for City Council just so she could push through a campaign to replace the old seats on the park swings,) and get herself elected President. Boy will her husband be in for a surprise the first time he goes  with the boys for a night out and finds they’re her Secret Service agents.

Just getting a husband through his wife’s inauguration would be a toughie.  If her swearing in ceremony takes more than eight minutes, he’ll start checking his text messages or looking around for the nearest TV.

Chances are he’ll forget to get a haircut the day before the inaugural ball,  and,  if someone doesn’t check him out, he’ll show up wearing his tuxedo with pair of brown shoes.

Can you imagine the First Gentleman offering to plan the  state dinners for visiting foreign dignitaries.  Heaven help ‘em if he decides to cook out. By the time he finally gets the coals to burn, diplomatic relations could be broken off forever and half the cabinet members laid out cold under the picnic tables,  stoned on bug spray.

Or,  if he decides to use the formal dining room, I can see the duck decoy centerpieces and napkins stuck in empty shot gun shells, sitting by the dinner plates. You know what the seating arrangements will be. The men will be sitting at tables on one end of the room and the women at the other.  And, when he picks up the salt shaker and finds it empty, you know who he’ll blame for that oversight - THE PRESIDENT.

Of course he’ll need a social secretary. Hopefully no one named “Trixie.”  If she shows up, the President might have to intercede and assign a driver from the army motor pool.

Somebody will have to help him with his clothes. Color coordinate his ties with his shirts, his shoelaces with his shoes and suggest (suggest nothing, they’ll have to come right out and tell him,) he can no longer be seen standing on the helicopter pad wearing a “Doug’s Barbecue” bowling shirt.

Press interviews could be tricky too. A good PR man should be by his side at all times. The first time the President’s husband goes into a press conference and mentions his wife’s age, the name of her hormones, her inability to balance a checkbook, or her hair color, he’s going to find his clothes moved permanently into the Lincoln bedroom (and how, I wonder, would the press secretary explain THAT to the little old ladies from Peoria.)

You’ll see a few changes made on the grounds of the mansion, too. Hammocks in the rose garden, railroad tires outlining the flower beds, a trout pond on the east lawn and a spiget with a spray hose installed under the North Portico for the first gentleman’s convenience when he washes and hot waxes his A C Cobra.

Looking on the bright side. Having a First Gentleman in the white House could mean a sign of progress.

Think about it.  When would a woman ever have this much power to shame her husband into sleeping in pajamas!

Fundraiser events come in all sizes and shapes. One of the really fun ones recently which drew a crowd of more than 450 at Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, was the Integris Foundations Circle of Friends Gala. A 50th anniversary celebration of Integris Baptist Medical Center, the party bash featured Jim Belushi  (yes, brother of the deceased John Belushi,) and The Sacred Hearts.

Belushi energized the crowd, dancing with guests on the dance floor and enticing others onstage to dance with him. The crowd was singing along and boogeying to the beat, but the floor was so crowded they couldn’t do much more than dance in place. Some of the crowd even formed congo lines. Needless to say it was a stellar evening for many reasons.

Young dancers from Western Village Academy performed, bringing a standing ovation from the crowd.

This 50th anniversary celeration raised $318,000. Integris Baptist Medical Center (formerly known s Baptist Hospital) was first considered the “hospital on the hill’ when it opened its doors on Easter Sunday 1959 as a 200-bed hospital. It was the vision of the leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma to bring a Baptist hospital to the state’s capital city. Back then, open prairie and few home surrounded the new hospital.

The Gala Committee was composed of Sherry Bennett, Marilyn Bethea, Peggy Collins, Judith Duffy, Fran Grounds, Norma Harris, Laurie Heigle, Margaret Henry, Cheryl Hewett, Lori Hill, Sally Hood, Lynn Horton, Suzie Hupfeld, Barbara Jett, Jenny Kallenberger, Donna Lawrence, Elaine Levy, Ursula Lewis, Tami Loch, Mary Pat Love, Patti Mellow, Donna Parker, Beth Pauchnik, Rebecca Perkins, Lois Salmeron, Amelia Silverstein, Karen Swyden, Alison Taylor, Jane Thompson and Kathi White.

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