The Gift of Stuttering

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Re: A Farewell to Arm

From: Russ Hicks
Date: 10/7/02
Time: 9:27:13 PM
Remote Name: 12.237.31.119

Comments

Dale,

Ha, ha, ha! That's classic!

On a more serious note, I remember those feelings all too well. I would wonder, though, WHAT IF...? What if the Good Fairy came down and blew away my stuttering with her magic wand and really DID take my arm? (or the appendage of your choice, ha, ha!) And what if I found out to my horror that I was no better off than I was before - except that I no longer had my arm? Man, talk about a real bummer!

Amazingly enough that almost happened to me once in college. The stuttering thing, not the arm thing. I forget what I was doing, something stupid (of course), but all of a sudden I became fluent! No more stuttering! I was overwhelmed! My mind raced with the possibilities of great wealth, girls chasing me by the hoards, my grades soaring, my social life exploding... I would be King of the World! Man, I was super excited!

After a couple of days of this magical fluency, however, I began to have my doubts. No money fell out of trees, no girls flocking to me, my grades didn't improve (actually they began to suffer because I was spending all my time talking!), my social life remained as dull as a typical sophomore geek at Purdue, no crown for the King to be found... I was hugely disappointed to say the least. All that really changed in my life was my fluency. NOTHING ELSE! Man... this was a major letdown...

Of course my stuttering came back slowly over the next week or so. (Still don't know what I did...) But I had seen the Promised Land and it was just like my regular world. I'll never forget that experience.

Thank God I didn't lose an arm (or something infinitely worse!) in the process...

Thanks for your comments, Dale!

Russ


Last changed: September 12, 2005