A special gift and a horse to ride in on

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A special gift and a horse to ride in on

Last Modified: Friday, October 24, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.

Traveling north from Thibodaux to wherever you might wish to go – Vacherie or someplace else on the banks of the Mississippi River, perhaps – it is easy to miss Choupic.

It’s a small community, tucked behind a place called Chackbay, which would be easy to miss as well if not for the fine big church that marks the spot where you turn toward Choupic.

So among the families living in Choupic is Ralph Landry, who has 46 years, a wife named Ginger and three children.

He works in a gas field as a supervisor and is the kind of man, people around here will tell you, who helped build Louisiana.

This weekend, he will take his 19-year-old son, Trent, hunting rabbits on leased land not far from home.

His daughter Holly, who is 16, will not be attending. She used to hunt, but these days would rather spend the pre-dawn hours getting beauty rest than chasing Peter Cottontail through the forests and swamps.

The youngest child, Madison, is only 2 years old, and she is likely more interested in the Easter Bunny than those of the wild, swamp variety.

On the rabbit-hunting trip this weekend, Ralph and Trent will have a chance to bond, and bonding with people you care about and who care about you is something Ralph knows about really well.

There is a cousin he has named Keith Percle, who lives close by. He is the same age as Ralph, and when the two were growing up together, they might as well have been brothers.

About 10 years ago, Keith showed Ralph and the world how truly close cousins can be.

This is because Ralph was truly in need, and one of the only people in the world who could meet that need was Keith.

It was the matter of Ralph’s kidneys. The diagnosis came when Ralph was 13 years old, and eventually he had no kidneys at all.

The dialysis is truly a life-saving thing. Nobody can deny that.

But it gets in the way of things like working in a gas field or being all that you want to be to the people who matter, like the wife and the kids. Because, shucks, it’s three days a week, four hours a day on that kidney machine and Ralph will tell you that even though you could work, it’s just a trial.

So there was Keith, ready and willing to give one of the most special gifts anyone could ever think of, and Ralph got the transplant of the kidney and now his life is something far different than it might have been.

“It gave me another life,” Ralph said. “It gave me my life. The way I look at this, it is God’s blessing, and anything Keith needs, one phone call and I am there.”

Well, last week, the two were together in the stable where Keith keeps his horses. There was this 19-year-old horse named Cisco, and Keith was cleaning Cisco up and making him all pretty because the horse had an important job to do.

It was the weekend of the Gumbo Festival, which everyone in Chackbay and Choupic who truly appreciates good food and a good get-together wouldn’t miss for the world.

It is a celebration steeped in tradition, with a parade for all the firemen in Chackbay and Choupic.

The horse was to carry the man who was chosen to be the grand marshal of the parade, which is an honor obtained by lottery earlier in the year, which costs each man $20 to participate.

Keith didn’t know who the grand marshal was going to be this year. He mentioned something to Ralph about all this work on the horse for another man to ride.

Well on Sunday at the parade, there was Cisco, all fixed up and looking just fine.

And riding on the horse was the grand marshal in a fine white tuxedo with a formal white hat, waving to everyone in the crowd.

And the most surprised person above everyone else was Keith Percle, the incomparable gift giver.

He learned on that day that he had not only given his cousin Ralph a kidney. But on this day, when Ralph was so proud and happy to be grand marshal, he also gave him the horse he rode in on.

Daily Comet City Editor John DeSantis can be reached at 448-7614 or by e-mail at john.desantis@dailycomet.com.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20081024/OPINION01/810242884/1099/OPINION?Title=A_special_gift_and_a_horse_to_ride_in_on