We Should Have Listened

  I grew up on a small family farm started by Pop and Mom.  When he decided to ask Mom to marry him, Pop got busy, cleared a plot of family owned ground and built a house.  Since his brothers were all off in the military supporting our country (Pop had flat feet and was not allowed to join), he did most of the work himself.  This building was done after hours of running his family's farm and small dairy.  He put in many late hours working by lantern light since there was no electricity in the area, yet.  That lack of electricity meant that each board had to be cut with a handsaw.  Pop did not complain...he had a goal and stuck with it.  

  As you can see in the photograph, the land was still wooded.  This meant that in order to farm, he had to clear places to plant.  He fell the trees using an ax and a crosscut saw.  A mule named Dan was used to haul the trees to a small sawmill that Pop used to cut the trees into boards.  Tales related to us as kids, told how an old tractor was used to run the saw.  As he cleared the land, he saved every piece of lumber that he could and soon built a fine barn behind the house.  This barn would come to house a few milk cows and several hogs.  Later he built a chicken house and a work shed.  His little farm was growing.  During this time, Mom was busy as well.  Being a "city girl", she had to learn the fine art of being a farm wife.  She often told how her sister-in-law, Marie, came to her rescue on many occasions. She learned to preserve foods, sew clothes and generally be there to help Pop whenever necessary. It was also during this time that she became pregnant and lost a set of twins.  Two years later, the tragedy was repeated and another set of twins died after being born prematurely.  The struggles were real and most devastating to the young couple but they persevered.

   Years later, Mom became pregnant with a single child and was able to carry it full term.  My oldest brother was soon joined by a baby girl, two more boys and then ME!  By this time, Pop had the little farm doing well. His fields were producing fine crops, his chickens, cows and hogs were multiplying and he had added a pecan trees and many fruit trees to the place.  A small shade-tree mechanic shop was opened to supplement his income.

  Nowadays, we have no idea of the amount of work it took to merely survive back in the day.  We have a tendency to complain of how tired we become with our daily tasks even with all of our modern conveniences.  We whine about not having "anything" to eat even with the ready made foodstuffs that line our shelves and whine that we have "nothing" to wear although our closets are jammed with clothes.  We spend thousands of dollars on appliances, gadgets and electronics that were never heard of back in the day.  I wonder...just wonder....how many of us would survive one week living like our parents or grandparents did.  They did not whine or complain as it would have not done any good...others were in the same boat.  Instead, they rolled up the shirtsleeves, picked up their tools and went to work.  We should have listened when they tried to teach us.  There may come a day that we all need to know at least some of those skills. Will the ingenuity, the ability to improvise, the knowledge be there when/if we need it?   With some folks....I am not so sure.  It sort of makes me happy that I listened and learned a good bit.  I admit that I would never be able to do what my Pop and Mom and grandparents did but at least I know a few of the basic skills and I am proud to say that my kids were receptive to learning ideas from the past.  Some day, the knowledge might just come in handy......point to ponder....point to ponder.