Ah, the Binkie
February 01, 2016
Posted By: Shaunescy
Written by LEIGH RIPLEY
Those little plastic pacifiers are both a blessing and a curse. Our firstborn, Emma, loved her binkie. And we allowed it, all the time, not knowing any better. There were no rules for Em; she was allowed to pacify herself all day and night. God forbid we should ever find ourselves without one – so we had extra backups in the car, diaper bag, purse...we even kept three in her bed so she could find one in the middle of the night if necessary.
Her dee-gee (binkie) was always with her. If she needed to use her mouth for something (such as eating or drinking), she would stuff it down her shirt for safekeeping. To talk, she would clench it between her teeth and talk around the dee-gee (I did have a habit of swooping in and hiding them, so she rarely let them out of her sight). Sometimes she would just dangle it outside of her mouth like a stogie.
One afternoon, my husband, Dan, took Emma fishing on the Gallatin River. Safely tucked away in a backpack, Emma was just going to town on her dee-gee. Dan was quietly fishing when a pickup full of dogs and two young (out-of-state) men descended upon them. Now, I don’t fish, but according to my husband there is an unwritten rule about poaching someone’s fishing area – especially when you are the only three people on a stretch of river. Apparently these boys didn’t know the rules and began fishing in front of, and behind, him, with their unruly dogs trudging through the river across his fishing line. Uncomfortable with confrontation, but highly irritated by the rude fellow fisherman, Dan crossed the river to a different spot to once again fish alone.
As they were crossing the river, Emma’s dee-gee shot out of her mouth and began floating away. Tragically unprepared with no backup, Dan was forced to go after it. Unfortunately, the river won. Knowing that time was limited with Emma, who was apt to get ornery fast without her precious dee-gee, Dan threw one more line in and connected with a rainbow trout.
From across the river, Dan heard, “Hey, what are the biting on?” Agitated, he replied, “An Emma’s dee-gee!”
The rude young fisherman replied, “At this time of year?” and then began furiously looking through his tackle box for one. See? I guess everyone needs a dee-gee for something at one point or another.
