On January 12, 1951, Rush Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  He would grow up to be the most famous, consequential radio personality of the 20th and 21st centuries-not bad for a guy who hated school, didn’t graduate from college, and got fired from his early jobs many times.  As he always said, he knew early that he was “born to be on the radio”, and he showed it all through his life.

I regret that I did not begin listening to Rush until 2001, when I started dating the man who became my husband.  It only took about 10 minutes of listening, in the car on the way to dinner, for me to become hooked.  I thought Rush was the funniest guy I had ever heard, and I couldn’t get enough of him after that.  I listened live whenever I could, and when I couldn’t I downloaded his podcast to listen to later.  In August of 2005, from my desk at work, I called his show, and I actually got through!!  Boy, was I excited, my heart racing, and my brain saying “I sure hope my boss doesn’t find out that I did this”.  When I finally got on the air, I was very impressed with how gracious a host he was.  I told my story of how I became a listener, and he was just delighted.  I cherish that call more than anything else in my long life-that memory is just top of mind all the time.

In 2010, I became a RushBabe, after hearing the original call where a lady asked is we older female fans could call ourselves RushBabes.  He was enthusiastic about the idea, and within a short time you could find RushBabe merchandise in his online store. I bought a yellow sign for the window of my car, and it lives there still.  Then I started this blog, so I could try to attract other RushBabes and maybe start a movement.  Today, I follow his brother David on Twitter, and I hope to get more followers there, and here.  And I also subscribe to the newsletters of “Bo Snerdley”, Rush’s longtime call screener.

This is another memory of Rush that I cherish.

I have always called Rush Limbaugh My Hero, and I was devastated when he disclosed that he had advanced lung cancer in 2020. We Dittoheads never really considered that he might be mortal, and this news his us all hard.  We were all rooting for him in his battle against the disease, and he left a huge hole in our hearts when he passed away.  Today, and always, we celebrate his life, and whenever we hear of something awful the Leftists are doing, we long for his pithy commentary, and his ability to cheer us up.  Rush always told us that he’d tell us when it was time to panic.  Is it time now?

It may not be time to panic, but it is indeed time to say Happy Birthday, Rush.  We miss you terribly.  But My Hero will never be truly gone, as long as we remember him and his massive contributions to radio.  Long Live Rush Limbaugh!