DR. WILLIE, OUR CHIROPRACTER
Around 1945 to 47, Dr. Willie made house calls once a week on the same day and time to keep spines aligned in the home. He had no fixed address that I knew. Chiropractors were a new fad at the time and I don’t remember ever seeing an office for one in Arlington. Not so today. I pass two or three on the way to the library here in rural Virginia.
Mother had a bad back and needed a lot of aligning to keep her going off to work every morning without her body corset. All rubber went into the war effort so women did without a corset that kept their spines straight and put the fat in the most desirable places. Mother was never fat, just out of condition, as we would say today.
Dr. Willie looked and talked like a modern claim-it-to-get-it preacher on TV. Willie preached the values of his profession better that our Presbyterian minister, Dr. Steenson preached his sermons. Willie had a full head of long white hair with never a hair out of place. He was 50 to 60 years old, short, stocky, and wore white suits with two-tone black and white shoes. His skin color was that of a wineo with nose to match. A real character, and according to Dad, not to be trusted alone with a wallet in your pocket.
I hate to use the expression, but Willie serviced several of Mother’s friends. He was liked by the women, but not the husbands and this son. No one knew much about him, but Dad said the police didn’t want him. Dad did check that part.
A few years into our family association, Willie married a much younger woman, and that kept him young in his thinking, stepping, and spending.
I had a few adjustments on my teenage back. I thought my back was practically brand-new. Willie said some mumbo-jumbo with his aligning good things would happen for a growing back. All I could think when the snapping and popping started in my perfectly good back and neck, was I putting my life in the hands of wacko with black and white shoes. Willie always said to relax and just go limp as he twisted my neck with a jerk and made it pop. How could anyone relax when your head was about to be detached from your body? I soon learned to be out of the house and gone before the preacher arrived.
Dad loaned Willie money during one of his financial needs with the understanding that he could work it off through treatments and small monthly payments. Willie must have borrowed from some of the other patients too because he moved without leaving a forwarding address. Dad felt the money loss was worth the ending of Willie in our lives. I have to give Willie credit for curing Mother’s back from pain since to my knowledge she never went to a chiropractor again.
One summer during my thirties I developed numbness in my right hip and leg. It got so bad I could hardly walk. I decided to go to a chiropractor in Falls Church, Virginia for relief. He was the best of the best with his diagnosis of my problem and fixed my ailment by suggesting I switch my wallet from my right rear pocket to my left and to reduce it’s size. I did and haven’t had that hip problem since. I now know that when I feel pressure it’s time to throw out old excess accumulated stuff from my wallet. We men have a habit of using our wallets as a portable filing system for our “important” papers, business cards, doctor and dentist appointment cards, grandchildren pictures (I have 13 of those), fishing license, hunting license, driver license, lifetime membership cards for BassMasters and NRA, boat registration, safe boating certificate, 2007 calendar, ATM card, Kroger, Foodlion, and CVS store cards and seven one dollar bills, one five dollar bill and a blank check just incase.
The practice of the Chiropractor has gone into holistic medicine in a big way in recent years. They sell and prescribe herbal drugs and composted food as a big part of their modern mumbo-jumbo to keep you coming back. Now they take your wallet out of your pocket and reduce its size quickly, like our old friend Dr. Willie.
Someone should write a story about men’s wallets.
Mother had a bad back and needed a lot of aligning to keep her going off to work every morning without her body corset. All rubber went into the war effort so women did without a corset that kept their spines straight and put the fat in the most desirable places. Mother was never fat, just out of condition, as we would say today.
Dr. Willie looked and talked like a modern claim-it-to-get-it preacher on TV. Willie preached the values of his profession better that our Presbyterian minister, Dr. Steenson preached his sermons. Willie had a full head of long white hair with never a hair out of place. He was 50 to 60 years old, short, stocky, and wore white suits with two-tone black and white shoes. His skin color was that of a wineo with nose to match. A real character, and according to Dad, not to be trusted alone with a wallet in your pocket.
I hate to use the expression, but Willie serviced several of Mother’s friends. He was liked by the women, but not the husbands and this son. No one knew much about him, but Dad said the police didn’t want him. Dad did check that part.
A few years into our family association, Willie married a much younger woman, and that kept him young in his thinking, stepping, and spending.
I had a few adjustments on my teenage back. I thought my back was practically brand-new. Willie said some mumbo-jumbo with his aligning good things would happen for a growing back. All I could think when the snapping and popping started in my perfectly good back and neck, was I putting my life in the hands of wacko with black and white shoes. Willie always said to relax and just go limp as he twisted my neck with a jerk and made it pop. How could anyone relax when your head was about to be detached from your body? I soon learned to be out of the house and gone before the preacher arrived.
Dad loaned Willie money during one of his financial needs with the understanding that he could work it off through treatments and small monthly payments. Willie must have borrowed from some of the other patients too because he moved without leaving a forwarding address. Dad felt the money loss was worth the ending of Willie in our lives. I have to give Willie credit for curing Mother’s back from pain since to my knowledge she never went to a chiropractor again.
One summer during my thirties I developed numbness in my right hip and leg. It got so bad I could hardly walk. I decided to go to a chiropractor in Falls Church, Virginia for relief. He was the best of the best with his diagnosis of my problem and fixed my ailment by suggesting I switch my wallet from my right rear pocket to my left and to reduce it’s size. I did and haven’t had that hip problem since. I now know that when I feel pressure it’s time to throw out old excess accumulated stuff from my wallet. We men have a habit of using our wallets as a portable filing system for our “important” papers, business cards, doctor and dentist appointment cards, grandchildren pictures (I have 13 of those), fishing license, hunting license, driver license, lifetime membership cards for BassMasters and NRA, boat registration, safe boating certificate, 2007 calendar, ATM card, Kroger, Foodlion, and CVS store cards and seven one dollar bills, one five dollar bill and a blank check just incase.
The practice of the Chiropractor has gone into holistic medicine in a big way in recent years. They sell and prescribe herbal drugs and composted food as a big part of their modern mumbo-jumbo to keep you coming back. Now they take your wallet out of your pocket and reduce its size quickly, like our old friend Dr. Willie.
Someone should write a story about men’s wallets.
posted by JackSML | 9:46 PM
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