The life of a farmer can be difficult and challenging. In rural South Dakota the climate alone is a constant adversary. Harsh winters with temperatures sometimes dropping to 20 degrees below zero and blizzards; fickle springs with winter often holding out until May; wind, always the wind; dry, hot summers and drought, or hail and cloudbursts that render the dirt roads impassable.
Yet for all the years of her life, Aunt Helen remained on the farm. All her sisters married and left; her one brother joined the Navy and never came back to the farm to live. She stayed, helping Grandpa with the outdoor chores and helping Grandma with the indoor ones. Then Grandma died. Surely Helen preferred the outdoor chores, but there was food to prepare, not just for the two of them, but for church suppers and sales, for crews that came to help during harvest and branding. The house still needed to be kept clean. Helen worked on. Then Grandpa had a stroke. Helen kept him there on the farm, married Arnold and together they ran the farm and cared for Grandpa until he died. For another 22 years they kept the farm going-- continuing on as their bodies weakened.
In looking at Helen's life I see commitment, dedication to duty and persistence. Why did she stay on the farm? Maybe it was the only life she knew, the only option she thought available, maybe she didn't want to move and to venture into the unknown, maybe she wanted to keep the farm until it could be passed on to a family member,maybe she stayed because she loved her home, the land and the animals. I suspect it was a combination of all of these. Whatever her reasons, she was not a quitter; she didn't let circumstances overcome her; she kept going.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Tokens of my Father's love
My earthly father did not demonstrate love and affection, nor did he give gifts easily. Three gifts that he gave me as a child stand out in my memory: a tricyle, a pair of slippers and a child-sized table that he made for me. A few years ago I brought the table home from my aunt's farm where it had been stored. It stands today as a reminder of my father's love.
My heavenly Father surrounds me with His love daily in the creation He has made, the air I breathe, the beauty of the earth, life itself, the people He has put into my life--the many things I take for granted. From time to time, though, something occurs that reminds me of His love and care. Yesterday was such a time.
While I was selling mushrooms at the farmers' market, a customer who helps me from time to time came by and asked if I needed a break. I told her that would be nice, but to go ahead and finish her shopping first. Shortly after, a customer requested 2 pounds of assorted mushrooms, which takes quite awhile to put together. Just after I'd started working on her order, Mary Margaret returned to help. Before we could finish putting together the 2 pound order, a line of customers had formed! Without Mary Margaret there, I would have been swamped! Plus when I get a lot of customers at once, I get flustered. The Lord knew my need and sent help just in time!
To many, that incident might seem like a small thing, or just a coincidence. I can look back and remember many such "coincidences" throughout my lifetime, I know they are tokens of my Father's love.
My heavenly Father surrounds me with His love daily in the creation He has made, the air I breathe, the beauty of the earth, life itself, the people He has put into my life--the many things I take for granted. From time to time, though, something occurs that reminds me of His love and care. Yesterday was such a time.
While I was selling mushrooms at the farmers' market, a customer who helps me from time to time came by and asked if I needed a break. I told her that would be nice, but to go ahead and finish her shopping first. Shortly after, a customer requested 2 pounds of assorted mushrooms, which takes quite awhile to put together. Just after I'd started working on her order, Mary Margaret returned to help. Before we could finish putting together the 2 pound order, a line of customers had formed! Without Mary Margaret there, I would have been swamped! Plus when I get a lot of customers at once, I get flustered. The Lord knew my need and sent help just in time!
To many, that incident might seem like a small thing, or just a coincidence. I can look back and remember many such "coincidences" throughout my lifetime, I know they are tokens of my Father's love.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
A Special Person: Memories
My Aunt Helen died this week, after hovering between life and death for two weeks in a coma. As I've been reliving some of the memories of time spent with her as a child and talking with family members about her I've wanted to write down thoughts about her and times spent with her.
Frist, some memories...
On holidays, our family would travel to visit grandparents and cousins, sometimes visiting both sides of the family in the same trip. The most special times to me, though, were the days during the summer that I got to spend with my maternal grandparents on their farm. Besides being a place of refuge and freedom for me, with all the fascinations that a farm has for a child who doesn't live on one, the most wonderful thing about it was that my aunt, Helen, lived there too. I could follow my Aunt Helen around, asking her questions, trying to do what she did and doing all I could to keep her to myself. One time a man came to take her out on a date. I barraged him with questions about where they were going and what they were going to do. He kept replying, "I don't know." Finally I remarked, "you don't know much, do you?" I don't remember being scolded for that, but my grandmother must have groaned and shook her head at my insolent behavior.
Each wonderful day would begin before dawn with the sun just barely bringing color to the eastern horizon. I'd follow Helen to the barn and watch as she milked the cows and squirted milk into the waiting cat's mouth. Then it was back to the house for a breakfast of oatmeal, boiled eggs and toast. Perhaps morning is my favorite time of day because of those experiences.
The day would end with Helen sitting in her room writing in her diary the events of the day. She would include notes about the weather, visitors, eggs gathered-at least those were the ones she would read to me. Sometimes she'd let me brush her waist-long hair and would teach me how to braid it. After her bedtime routine was finished, it was time for bed, except I would keep her awake for quite awhile talking. (Imagine that!)
I realize now how many things that I later did became attempts to imitate her. She wrote little articles called "Gopher Goings" for the small town newspaper. I wanted to write too and in 4th grade had a part in writing a class newspaper. Then in high school I took journalism and became one of the editors of the school newspaper. She would draw pictures of animals: horses and dogs especially. I tried and tried to draw pictures of horses too, but never as well as she did. Often she would make homemade cards with her drawings and send them to me. She and my grandparents always had a big garden with delicious fresh vegetables. I would go back to our home, scratch a little hole in the hard, dry dirt and plant a seed. Strangely, my little garden would never flourish like theirs! Even as an adult, I would write her, asking for the variety of lettuce that she grew that always tasted so wonderful. I still attempt to have a garden whenever I can, with a little more knowledge about how to make one grow!
Frist, some memories...
On holidays, our family would travel to visit grandparents and cousins, sometimes visiting both sides of the family in the same trip. The most special times to me, though, were the days during the summer that I got to spend with my maternal grandparents on their farm. Besides being a place of refuge and freedom for me, with all the fascinations that a farm has for a child who doesn't live on one, the most wonderful thing about it was that my aunt, Helen, lived there too. I could follow my Aunt Helen around, asking her questions, trying to do what she did and doing all I could to keep her to myself. One time a man came to take her out on a date. I barraged him with questions about where they were going and what they were going to do. He kept replying, "I don't know." Finally I remarked, "you don't know much, do you?" I don't remember being scolded for that, but my grandmother must have groaned and shook her head at my insolent behavior.
Each wonderful day would begin before dawn with the sun just barely bringing color to the eastern horizon. I'd follow Helen to the barn and watch as she milked the cows and squirted milk into the waiting cat's mouth. Then it was back to the house for a breakfast of oatmeal, boiled eggs and toast. Perhaps morning is my favorite time of day because of those experiences.
The day would end with Helen sitting in her room writing in her diary the events of the day. She would include notes about the weather, visitors, eggs gathered-at least those were the ones she would read to me. Sometimes she'd let me brush her waist-long hair and would teach me how to braid it. After her bedtime routine was finished, it was time for bed, except I would keep her awake for quite awhile talking. (Imagine that!)
I realize now how many things that I later did became attempts to imitate her. She wrote little articles called "Gopher Goings" for the small town newspaper. I wanted to write too and in 4th grade had a part in writing a class newspaper. Then in high school I took journalism and became one of the editors of the school newspaper. She would draw pictures of animals: horses and dogs especially. I tried and tried to draw pictures of horses too, but never as well as she did. Often she would make homemade cards with her drawings and send them to me. She and my grandparents always had a big garden with delicious fresh vegetables. I would go back to our home, scratch a little hole in the hard, dry dirt and plant a seed. Strangely, my little garden would never flourish like theirs! Even as an adult, I would write her, asking for the variety of lettuce that she grew that always tasted so wonderful. I still attempt to have a garden whenever I can, with a little more knowledge about how to make one grow!
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