West Virginia Desk and Derrick Club

From the desk of Maggi Franks

Happy winter! You know, this is the first time it has really felt like winter to me, in a very long time. My 8 year old sons, yes there are three of them, finally got to build their first snow man this year. And the Franks family had a snow ball fight that I hope will become an annual tradition, complete with hot chocolate and popcorn afterward. Along with the snow, came the first prolonged power outage the boys had ever encountered. I think that was the best day I’ve ever spent with my family. We had to actually talk and listen to each other.

It was eye opening. I’m with my sons every day, but I never realized just how little time we really spend with each other. We might be in the same house, but we may as well be miles apart. With 4 televisions, 2 games systems, 1 desktop computer and one laptop, we never even need to be in the same room. And though in many ways it has its advantages, we’re missing out on the family time I grew up knowing. I look back, exactly what was wrong with having 1 TV, in black and white, and having to get up to change the channel? I can’t think of a thing. Without power, my husband and my son Jacob spent the day reading us jokes from the books they had gotten for Christmas. The boys played with flashlights, shining the lights all over the walls, the dog and each other. Derek played with every music box in the house. Behren played checkers with his dad, and made me realize just how much that kid loves board games. We learned about each other, we laughed with each other, and we grew as a family that day. It was one of those “mommy moments” that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.

This year I hope to have many days like that for our club. I want us to learn as much as we can, grow together as a club, and laugh along the way.  Michaelle Haye is working on programs this year. Her speech at the January meeting was just a glimmer of what she has in store for us. And she wants your input. What would you like to learn about this year? If we put away the outside distractions, I wonder just how much we can learn this year.

From our Education Committee, Kay Hillabold has a few field trips in the works for us. Would anyone like to look for more rocks? How about visiting a reclamation site? These trips will be in addition to our regularly scheduled meetings and promise to be not only educational, but great fun. Maybe a day out in the field, without all of our electronic devices, will give us that chance to learn more about each other and our industry.

So if you haven’t guessed by now, the theme for the year is “Learn, Laugh, Grow.” I am honored to serve again this year as your president. I have learned much with you over the last few years, and promise that the board and I will do our best to keep the knowledge coming. I have grown as a person from knowing you; I can’t imagine a day without my Desk and Derrick family. And I hope that even when the world hasn’t exactly been peachy, I have given you a moment or two of laughter. The promise of a new year is before us. Let’s learn, laugh and grow together this year.

Franks out.