Ben was enlisted for volunteer work a few years ago by a great organization called MedWish, which repurposes otherwise-discarded medical supplies and ships them to regions throughout the world that need them. Ben, I believe, was a sorter, a task he enjoys and is good at. In fact, he’s such a monster sorter, he won an award!
The Most Improved award, to be exact. At the annual MedWish banquet, Karen and I proudly accepted it on Ben’s behalf since, like Brando and the Oscars, some celebrities prefer to avoid the spotlight.
But when we’d arrived, Gretchen, the Monarch aide who was Ben’s point person with MedWish, rushed up to us, apologizing as if she had dropped the F-bomb with Queen Elizabeth. It seemed that the company that made the award plaques took some poetic liberty with Ben’s name (and though we assume it was accidental, as I was taught in High School, when you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME, so…).
They promised to make a corrected replacement for Ben. As time went by, we assumed (oh no, not that again) it was one of those things that slipped through the cracks.
But we were fine with it. The error?
“Benjamin” had become “Bejamin.”
And just like that, “Ben be jammin'” became a family catch phrase, all thanks to the plaque. And hey, Ben likes the reggae he hears in the car, courtesy Sam Bush (OK, reggae-grass).
So the plaque has been proudly displayed in our bedroom ever since. Thanks MedWish — and Gretchen.
But Gretchen came through after all! She didn’t realize we hadn’t received the corrected plaque, and she came across it last week. The Award-Winning Ben now has an official plaque with his official name to prove it.
But we will never give up the wrong one. It just fits him too well. With his love for music, Ben will always be jammin’.
