Farmer Sam

I grew up on a farm. It was a small dairy farm. My father milked cows and then sold the milk to a dairy. He also farmed the land, made silage, raised beef cattle, and various other farm things. I was not a farm girl. Although I did do a chore now and then related to the cows like putting out the feed when they were being milked, I stayed pretty much clear of any farm-related things. Possibly because my father thought it was in the best interest of the farm-related things.

When I got married and had a family, we lived in Florida and Tennessee (after a brief stay in South Mississippi). We would go back in the summer and for holidays. By that time my mother had passed away and my father no longer used the dairy farm. He had a job at the local college. But the farm still had lots of fun things around for my children to consider. Like the tractor below. Did they actually run? Perhaps. Would Sam know how to (a) start it, and (b) drive it? Probably not - not because he was not a capable driver, but because who knows how my father had rigged the tractor so that it would indeed actually run.

It's fun to imagine my children growing up as I did. Would they love the farm and want to stay around? Or would they want to leave and find new adventures? Would they love the remoteness and quiet and animals? Would they ride the horses I shied away from and gather eggs from the hen house, hoping there were no snakes snuggled in the nest? Would they grow a garden and milk cows and raise some pigs?

I'll never know because that wasn't to an option for them. But it was a fun place for them to experience, and I'm thankful that they had that opportunity, even if it was just for a funny photo.

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Today is a gift because: picking up Lindley at school and having a sleepover