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One frayed bungie away from doomOne frayed bungie away from doom

A frayed bungie cord with sentimental value is passed on.

Raney Rapp, Senior Staff Writer

January 14, 2025

2 Min Read
Bungie Cord
Even an old bungie cord kept sentimentally in a car emergency kit for the last 8 years can tug at the heart.Brent Murphree

Facebook Marketplace purchasers come in a wide variety. The inevitable “Is this still available?” The “How low would you go?” The “Not quite sure what it actually is they’re buying.” But there’s a lot of good deals to be made online - and I wouldn’t be a Rapp if I didn’t love a good deal.

As we are facilitating a house sale and move, as the capstone on my unintentional 30th year plan to change everything in my life - new baby, new job, new town, new home - we are selling quite a bit of furniture online.

In one such transaction I came across a woefully underprepared Marketplacer who arrived in a double cab, short bed pickup hours from home to haul back a massive amount of large furniture.

We’re talking a full-size headboard, footboard, rails, slats, bed frame support, mattress, box springs, mirror, dresser and an armoire - that she expected to load into the bed of a short bed pickup. The girl’s math wasn’t working. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t found myself in similar predicaments.

My husband took the problem presented to him as a personal challenge and embarked on a life-sized game of Tetris. He won. And he even managed to rig a strap from a few loose zip ties and a single bungee cord to get her the 20 miles to Walmart so she could buy some ratchet straps.

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To be honest, it was tough to let go of the bungie.

Eight years ago, when my husband and I married, we spent our first six months as newlyweds living apart. He was finishing grad school, and I had taken on my first editor job roughly three hours away, so we spent a lot of late nights and early morning commuting back and forth.

 During one of those late-night commutes, his rental car nearly lost a bumper on a downtown portion of the Tulsa turnpike. And as he was underneath the car attempting to rig something to help him make the last two hours home to me, a homeless man pushing a shopping cart approached him. This angel in disguise was offering my husband his last “rubber snapper.” And the frayed bungie cord managed to hold his bumper off the ground long enough for him to make it home.

The same cord, kept sentimentally in a car emergency kit for the last 8 years, kept our new friend safe on the next portion of her journey.The whole event was reminiscent of 2024 for me – where I spent my time leaping from one giant “new” thing to another, tethered only by small acts of kindness from those around me. I hope we all spend 2025 the same way – taking on challenges fueled and fed by the love of family and friends.

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About the Author

Raney Rapp

Senior Staff Writer, Delta Farm Press

An east Texas cow-calf operation provided the backdrop for Raney Rapp’s early love for agriculture. After writing farmers' dictated life stories and keeping up a high school column in her local newspaper, Raney continued her education in agricultural communications and animal science at Oklahoma State University.

In 2016, she began as an associate editor and later served as head editor for Farm Talk newspaper, a weekly publication serving farmers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Raney joined the Delta Farm Press team as a staff writer in 2024 to continue her goal of giving greater voice to farmers’ stories and struggles.

“Every farm has a story to tell – but Delta farmers’ stories exceed the rest in vibrancy, character and often crop yield,” Rapp said. “I learn new things every day about the rich history and diversity of Delta dirt. The more I learn, the more I become engrained in the mission to make life better for our readers each day on their own farms – while carrying the innovative ideas home with me.”

Her husband, Dillon’s job as a farm management economist with K-State Extension keeps their family of four rooted in eastern Kansas agriculture but Raney remains a southerner at heart.

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