The Ballad of the Little People

Doug Bronson, of CFP Ridin’ Out the Recession fame is asking for prayers today for his wife Deb, who is being treated for breast cancer. Prayer is mighty in all of life’s struggles and Dub and Deb are mighty in recognizing the power of prayer. It’s only been two months since the down-to-earth Floridan couple has been writing columns for Canada Free Press, and it is a credit to them that their columns have become this publication’s fastest growing feature. You won’t find scoops on Ridin’ Out the Recession, but you will find homespun kitchen recipes and tips how to survive in the middle of an economic downturn like the one we are all living in now.

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Dub’s and Deb’s writing style is akin to reading letters from home, the kind Mothers carry around in the pockets of their aprons. Their everyday lives are the ever-changing story of Small-town America. When orders started to dry up up in their well-established paving business, they started looking for other ways to ride out the storm. Instead of sitting around crying “Woe is we”, they went back to the basics of the days of their grandparents; turned to their garden, gathered family members and friends about them to plumb the fine art of survival. Deb always counted on Dub’s humour to see them through hard times, and the first thing she asked when doctors confirmed her cancer was for Dub to remain strong and “funny”. Everybody’s favourite cut-up, Dub is always looking for ways to give people a good laugh. Once when he noticed I was nervous when on a radio show with colleague Doug Hagmann, Dub called the show. First question: “Can we talk about Charlie Sheen?” In a heartbeat, I answered, “Why?” before realizing it was Dub trying comedy to ease anxiety. Plain spoken is a trait that seems to have gone missing from the culture of the day. Dub’s forbears, including his beloved grandfather, would have been proud to know that years after their tutelage, Dub speaks in a language as plain as a Mark Twain’s. While some people scorn “folksy” Dub and Deb thrive on it. Their song is the Ballad of the Little People. Not the bubbles of the champagne served up in a swanky hotel, but the homemade chocolate birthday cake with Deb’s carefully chosen candles for a grandchild. The Ballad of the Little People does not come wrapped in silver paper tied with curled edge ribbons but it, like everyday life in the trenches, is welcome all the same. If the Ballad of the Little People could be described in a music metaphor, it would be like Johnny Cash singing about Sunday Morning Coming Down. If Dub were sitting here as I write this rather than outside in Central Florida working in the garden with Deb, he’d be nagging me about putting in a word that his readers are “the best ones on the Internet”. Dub would never use the vernacular of “peeps” for readers but will understand when I borrow from the old chesnut Kalamazoo in describing his readers as “real piperoo” peeps. Dub is not ashamed about telling the world he loves his wife and that he wants those who believe to pray for her. This is CFP’s prayer: May the Good Lord Bless and Keep Dub and Deb always!