02/08/10

My question of the day on Saturday was "What is your favorite childhood memory?"

I can answer my own question today. :)

My favorite childhood memory would have to be growing up on a farm. Every part about it was special to me.... right down to the smell. ha!

Life was so simple then. My Mom and Dad worked extremely hard and taught me the value of hard work. Life was not easy and we were NOT rich, like so many people "thought" of farmers. I take that back... we were rich, but not in the things of the world... we were rich in love for one another. Mom and Dad sacrificed much for us. I never realized just how much until I got married. Once I moved out of the house Mom and Dad began to re-decorate. It was time because they had done without for so many years so we could have what we needed. That may be why I am content to have what I have and I don't need to get something new all of the time. I learned that life was not better because of acquiring new things.


I will be the first to admit that when Steve and I got married we wanted a lot of things that Mom and Dad had worked all of their lives for to that point. The Lord taught us through some hard lessons on finances and other things that happiness can only come through a greater knowledge of the Lord. He alone provides joy and provides all we NEED. I think all young couples go through some of that. What I learned growing up and what I learned when we were first married has caused me to greater appreciate what we do have and realize it is all gifts from the Lord. With Him providing I can be content.

This picture is of the stop/start button for the feed auger that took the silage down the trough for the cows. It always makes me sad to see it permanently in the "stop" button. It has been that way for close to 25 years.

Back to my original topic... sorry for the rabbit trail.

There were other aspects of the farm that are always wonderful memories for me:

I loved having the freedom to roam around the barns all day. The worries of the world today were not so strong then. I couldn't imagine letting Wesley and Mikayla do that now without me calling to find them and make sure they are OK.

I loved the cows and the sounds of their chains around their necks that held their number. Each cow was numbered and Daddy kept records on each one to help him know how they were doing.

I loved the "mooing" that came each day.

I loved walking into the milking parlor and watching Daddy milk the cows.

I can look back now and say I loved helping get the cows in, although at times I was scared to death of those huge animals. ha!

I can remember trying to get a cow to go forward into the waiting area at the barn and it almost ran over Kevin because I was not paying attention.

I fondly remember the day Kevin and I were "bored" and we were crushing silage (corn the cows ate) with a rubber mallet. I failed to move my hand out of the way as Kevin dealt a crashing blow that was supposed to be for the corn.... but instead my finger was dealt the blow. I lost a fingernail and learned how painful a rubber mallet can really be....

I remember the day I was chased up the tree by the crazy cow that had the gate around her head. Oh, if I only had a picture of THAT!!!

I remember the day Daddy, Kevin and I were walking in the pastures and saw the rain coming.... and tried to outrun rain. We didn't and we got soaked. (We had some adventures with Dad!)

I remember Kevin trying to drive the scout across the dam in one of our other pastures. I can still see Daddy opening the gate to get us out of there. Those pastures I just talked about are now subdivisions.

I remember our garden in the bottom of the road we live on and we had 7 foot okra. We also had some serious black-eyed peas that year. It was always wet that year and I had my boots sucked off of me and stuck in the mud. I was always scared of insects and didn't do well in picking the veggies. Mom would always come behind me and pick a zillion that I had missed.

I remember making mud pies by that garden on the road.... the main road that is now beside our house that is paved and full of traffic.

I remember the golf cart adventures where I ran up the Sycamore tree and got the cart stuck and then ran into the road the same day and almost had Kevin "killed" by an oncoming car. (We were just not used to traffic then. lol) Let's just say I was grounded from even RIDING the golf cart for a while.

I remember my Daddy getting up at 2:30 every morning to milk the cows. I also remember some sleepovers where my friends and I went out at that time of the morning and did not tell Mom we were going. Let's just say we didn't have any sleepovers for a while, either.

There are so many others, but you get the "picture." Life on the farm was always a wonderful place to be and I am so sad that Wesley and Mikayla have not had the privilege to learn life through living on a farm. Thankfully, they both appreciate their heritage and love it as much as they possibly can.