Friends

Friends, what a vague word. We use it to describe such a large group of people in our lives. The dictionary defines a friend as, 1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts; an acquaintance. 2. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle. 3. A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. 4. A person who gives assistance; patron; supporter. To me a friend is all of the above and then some. They are also someone you can disagree with and they respect your honesty. Someone you do not have to smile for, when you really feel like crying. They are those that you can talk to without telling them this is just between the two of you, because that goes without saying. They are the ones that will stand next to you in the worst of time or beside you even when you are wrong. If you miss step, they wait until you are in private to tell you that you messed up.

A lot of people feel as if they have to be invited to every party, event, and be the center of attention surrounded by groups of friends. But to me, I would much rather have two or three friends than a room full of what I call, friends for appearance sake. My phone does not have to ring off the hook and my schedule does not have to be full for me to know that I am important to my friends. I am more interested in the quality of the people I call friends that the quantity. I believe I am a great friend, but I know I cannot be a great friend to a lot of people. My friends know that I am always there for them, no matter what time it is, the distance between us or the situation and I know my friends feel the same way about me. I have hundreds of people in my life that I often interact with, but I save the title of friend for those few special people in my life.

The Teenage Season

Let me introduce myself.  I am the daughter. What would you like to know about me?  I am the oldest.  I have two little sisters and a little brother.  I love to be with children, so I volunteer in our church nursery and babysit.  I enjoy singing, writing plays, acting and reading.  I recently rediscovered my love for sign language and am looking into becoming an interpreter when I'm older.  I have more to say, but I should save something for next time.

Pick a Hat

I wear many hats throughout any given day.  Generally I start with the wife hat when I get up and make my husband a lunch to take with him to work.  If he leaves early enough, I sneak down to my basement to wear the crafty hat and create something amazing out of paper - generally a birthday card or gift.  At 7 a.m. I quickly switch to the mom hat when I wake each of my four children from a peaceful sleep.  In the course of that day, I will switch from the teacher hat as I homeschool my kids, employee hat as I put in time at my office job, chauffeur hat as I drive someone to something and granddaughter hat because I call my grandpa every day to check on him.  I also wear my chef hat, maid hat, computer geek hat, friend hat, and countless other hats on any given day.  I'm more excited than I should be that this week I get to wear my birthday hat.

Seasons of Farm Life

https://www.facebook.com/ForSuchASeason

Small town farm life is like no other way of living. It is a close knit community where everyone knows your name and every detail about your life. Each season there is something different to do. In the spring we fertilize the fields and pastures then begin to plant our crops. In the summer we cut and bale hay and harvest our winter wheat. In the fall we harvest our corn and soy beans. And in the winter we hay cows, break ice in the ponds so the cows can drink, vaccinate cows, cut wood and have our calving season. There is no rest for the weary on a farm.

In the late spring, when the fireflies begin to appear, the trees and flowers are in full bloom, it is just breath taking. My husband picks wild flowers and brings me a handful home once or twice a week. The first week of August there is always a meteor shower and we take a gallon of tea, put down the tailgate on the truck and sit and watch a clear star filled sky light up with shooting stars. In the fall I love spending the evening riding in the combine with my husband, drinking coffee, listening to old time country music and watching the wildlife play. With the winter comes the snow and everything turns into a clean white blanket with ice sickles hanging from the trees. Everywhere you look there are bright red cardinals. I don’t think I could pick one season and say it is my favorite. I love each season for different reasons.

Today is my first day blogging. While I am a grandmother, and I live in a very rural area on a farm, I attempt to keep up with the latest modes of communication. I am active on Facebook, check my e-mail everyday as well as my Twitter account and I have even been known to text now and again. However, blogging is new to me and my generation.

Life on the farm brings new adventures everyday. I grew up a city girl in Southern California, so living in a small town in the Mid-West, on a farm has been an experience. But, now that I have been here for 20 years I can say that I am a country girl at heart. There is so much more to farming than I could have ever dreamed about. This season of my life has shown me that the simple things are sometimes the most meaningful things.