Leaving Texas
A while back I shared some memories of the time through the mid 1965 when Orlin and I lived in Texas. We were Minnesota bound that summer of 1965. I was pregnant with Carrie and she was due to arrive in October. My parents came and helped us pack up and the plan was that I would return with them to Minnesota and Orlin would follow in several weeks after several things were taken care of.
We were not improving our family life in Texas. It no longer felt right. It was time for a reality check as soon we would be a family of three. It was time to start anew.
I did stay with my parents on their farm in Boon Lake Township in Renville County for a time. It was great visiting with my brothers and sisters. It seemed as if we had been gone forever and not just several years. When Orlin came to Minnesota with the U-Haul everything felt like it would be normal.
As it turned out, Orlin was going to work for his sister and her husband. They ran a large beef heard at a wide spot in the river called Beaver Falls, outside of Redwood Falls. As the older home on the farm was having a rental family move out, Orlin and I would be living in that house on that farm. In the mean time, I stayed with his parents in Hector. Orlin stayed at his sister’s as it was a hefty drive.
I was excited to see the home that we would be living in. When I got the word that the house was ready, my parents came to Hector to pick me up and we headed to Beaver Falls to see the new digs. It was a huge rambling two story home with quite a bit of age on it. All I could see was that it was going to be “home.” Orlin had unloaded the U-Haul items in the house and Raymond and Lena set about making it look like a home. Dad was on top of it immediately. He could see where a washer and dryer could be hooked up in the huge bathroom with little work. Before they left, the Sears kitchen range was hooked up, the refrigerator was humming and best of all . . . our bed was set up. Sleeping in our own home.
Orlin put in long days working with feeding of the livestock. Every day he drove a huge tandem truck to Franklin for feed. Often it was two times a day. With several hundred head that were split into two separate feeding shifts, it seemed like there was no end to fence fixing within the lots. I didn’t mind the quiet and the solitude. I was busy making baby clothes and sewing curtains.
The solitude often went into the night. Orlin’s brother-in-law worked hard and he partied harder. Often at the end of the day as the fellows were working from one site to another, they would end up at the Hill Top. It was a bar and grill out in the middle of no where. Orlin was the employee and where the boss went, he went as the boss was driving and often the boss needed a driver at the end of the evening.
———– to be continued.
On a side bar, I am on a furlough with physical therapy for my neck. I now know where the best place in the living room is to sit and relax. I know now that I do not stay at any one task for a long period of time. I now know that wearing the neck brace is a good thing when the discomfort begins before it gets out of control. I can do this! I can make this work. I also know that after a time away from physical therapy, I can again get a prescription to resume it. Come on! I know that years of abuse with physical work that there are repercussions. Learning to live in joy everyday is doable. I must know my limits.