Lots Going On
Lots going on . . . in my thoughts today. With the sun in my face and lots of determination, I got out the electric leaf blower and started in on the flower gardens to roust those Maple and Oak leaves into the lawn for Dennis to mulch. As I swayed the leaf blower from side to side, my mind wandered back to days such as these when Carrie and Kevin were small children. As I would rake leaves during a fall, as we have now, Carrie and Kevin would be nearby settled in on a carpet of leaves nibbling on cookies, enjoying being farm kids. I do not believe there were “Sippy Cups” at that time, but Tupperware had a great glass with a good lid on it for them to drink from. Snoopy, our dog, most likely did not go hungry either.
Many believe we gloss over memories making them more idyllic than they really were. No, for me it was the best place to be and to bring up kids. I am not saying it was an easy life, but it was fulfilling. We never went hungry, we had clothes on our backs and Orlin and I worked because it gave us a lot of self satisfaction: days that were full of livestock chores, field work when the seasons demanded it, and gardens that overflowed with goodies. Somehow, playing second fiddle, the house got cleaned, laundry got done and there was always a cookie to be had.
It did seem that the sewing machine was always sitting on a corner of the dining room table until such time that an area in the basement was tricked out. Hmm. I have always been meant to having a basement sewing setup. The kids more times than not played close at hand from where I was in the house. It seemed the natural thing to do: put a used sofa, a piece of carpeting down and several small tables and chairs and call it an extended part of living area for the kids to be near. Those were totally content times.
Here I am, 45 to 48 years later and I am still content. I don’t live vicariously through my children, but I sure do love taking in all that Carrie and Kevin have going on in their lives, admiring their spirit and vitality. I pinch myself at times as a reminder to not take a single day for granted. There is no such thing as “one day is like the next.” Each day is an adventure and it cannot be rewound and played over. Each day is the real deal.