About ivanbenson
I am a former singer, guitar player, writer, story teller, voice over talent, and a current heart attack survivor in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Anyone who has watched a sporting event where the sidelines of the competition are crowded with spectators, has no doubt been witness to, at one time or another, what could fairly be termed collateral damage. I’m talking about the tackle … Continue reading →
Posted in Assisted Living, Family History, Podcast, Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged basketball, before and after, brother, cameraman, cheerleaders, collateral damage, cousin, Facebook, father, football, friends, heart attack, husband, memories, Montana, neighbors, nephew, No man is an island, October 4, students
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“Timing is everything.” It’s true in comedy; a vocally well delivered line can fall flat if the timing is off. Exactly when a pause is required, or an inflection employed can bring an audience to tears of laughter, or . … Continue reading →
Posted in Family History, Fathers, Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged cardiologist, cath lab, coincidence, cousin, EKG, eulogized, father, Feb. 11 1961, general practitioner, Georgia, grandfather, harmonies, heart attack, ICU, intersections, LAD artery, maternal grandfather, musical composer, Oct. 3 2016, Oct. 4 2016, patterns, sense of timing, Snellville, timing, timing is everything, tombstones, unseen divine determinant
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“It’s the little things,” people will sometimes say, “that make the difference.” Do you know what I mean? For instance, you’ll remember a momentous occasion (be it tragedy or celebration), but you will also remember some seemingly insignificant or off-the-wall … Continue reading →
Posted in Family History, Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged 1939, anticoagulant, burning sensation, cardiologist, cath lab nurse, fear, fire and rescue protocol, footnotes, good life, heart attack, heparin, ICU, it's the little things, lidocaine, low grade fever, memories, novacaine, rock climbing, sweating, vantage point, versed, worry
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“Goodbye.” Many years ago I was intrigued to learn this common expression was a slang condensation of the phrase “God be with you.” Since that time we have shortened it even more to a simple, “Bye.” Sometimes you’ll hear people … Continue reading →
Posted in Family History, Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged clairvoyance, coma, farewell, finality, first responders, fully present, genuine, God be with you, goodbye, haunts, heart attack, Hello, Kermit the Frog, omission, Operating System, premonition
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The Grim Reaper may or may not get an undeserved bad rap, but when a cardiologist reads an EKG and sees the telltale “tombstones” on the EKG paper he/she knows that a myocardial infarction has occurred, and that coronary heart … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged arrhythmia, beta blockers, cardiac cath, cardiologist, ejection fraction, EKG, Garrison Keillor, general practitioner, GP, Grim Reaper, LAD, left anterior descending, MI, myocardial infarction, nitroglycerin, pre diabetic, proximal LAD lesion, smell of death, STEMI, stent, tombstone tracing, Widow Maker
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When I was in junior high school in the 1960s chains were really cool. All the tough guys liked to wear leather and have some type of silver chain hanging down out of their jeans pocket; you know, like the … Continue reading →
Posted in Family History, Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged 1960s, 1970s, 3:00 AM, being cool, Charlotte, Dallas, deadly force, facial profiling, Ferguson, Ford Mustang, gangstas, Happy Days, hoax, Jim Croce, misunderstood, police brutality, portrayal, profiled, prostitutes, racial profiling, suspicison, The Fonz, thug, tough guys, TPD, Tucson Police Department, tude, unjust
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Eight years, three months, and six days before I was prematurely born, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later another was dropped on Nagasaki, and the Second World War was essentially over. All … Continue reading →
Posted in Stories, Uncategorized, World War II
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Tagged atomic bomb, Austria, Britain, change, Civil War, colonization, concentration camp, emotions, feelings, German work camp, Germany, guilt, Hal Holbrook, Hiroshima, Japan, Jews, Mauthausen, Nagasaki, out of the ashes, perspective, pride, reason, shameful, Stone Mountain Park, thinking, truth, U.S.A. America, world war II, wrong
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I love working out at the gym! Well . . . let me qualify that statement: sometimes I love working out at the gym. Other times I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and just want to … Continue reading →
Posted in Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged anger, bench press, biceps, Chick-fil-A, death, depression, Disgust, emotion, exercise, fear, forward curl, full range of motion, grief, gym, hobbits, Inside Out, joy, live forever, Pete Docter, physique, results, Ronnie Del Carmen, Sadness, terminal illness, Tolkien, underbelly of life, weightlifting, working out
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I lost a friend last night; she died peacefully, surrounded by her family. And all of us, family and friends alike, are asking the question: “Why did she have to go like this?” This life presents interesting challenges, to say … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged "God is good", acceptance, chronic illness, control, death, diet, disease, exercise, fairness, goads, Greek, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, injustice, job loss, kicking against the pricks, Serenity, suicide, the God of our understanding, thwarted plans, unjust, worldview
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Eventually we are going to have to deal with this, you know! I’m not talking about global warming, or the earth’s diminishing supply of fossil fuels. And I am not referring to overpopulation, the reemerging fear of potential nuclear conflict, … Continue reading →
Posted in Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged acceptable, adultery, Apple, Brock Turner, criminal justice, duplicity, erosion, fossil fuels, George Barna, global warming, LGBT, LGBTQ, moral, morality, nuclear conflict, Orange is the New Black, overpopulation, pay the piper, public outcry, rape, sexual identity, The Frog in the Kettle, Tim Cook, unacceptable
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The Lost Story 