The tractor was his office:
If I ever needed to talk and couldn’t find where my dad was, the first place to look was the tractor. During planting and harvesting season it felt like he spent 90% of his days in the fields. It never bothered me, because I knew I could walk across the field and my dad would stop the tractor, I would climb on up and for a few hours we would just talk, or sometimes we didn’t have to talk. To this day, at 20 years old, the tractor is still where we have talks. He would sit and listen and finally when I stopped talking he would give his opinion, but never force me to take his advice.
The farm was my playground:
I would spend my days on the farm climbing and going on adventures while my dad was busy doing a task. I would venture off and climb the bails all the way to the top, jump from one to the other pretending I couldn’t fall because the ground was toxic. I would walk the path of the pasture as if I was on some big wild adventure, but always keeping my dad in my view. Most the time, he would join in on my “wild adventures” as we walked the fence line or fed the cows. My imagination was always running wild.
The backyard was my teaching grounds:
Many late nights were spent playing catch under the light pole and my dad teaching all the tricks he knew about batting, catching, and throwing. My dad and I weren’t the tennis pros, but we made our own game on the blacktop road. We had an invisible net and no rules, it was mostly my dad chasing the tennis ball down the road because I could never hit the ball to him. No matter how tired or busy my dad was, he always made time for little moments like these.
Driver’s Ed was taught in a different way:
I learned to drive at a very young age and so did my brothers. We would sit on our dads lap and turn the wheel as he shifted gears. Then as we each got old my dad would let us drive in the pasture. I couldn’t even see over the steering wheel, but there I was trying to drive a stick shift and not hit a cow, a tree, or my dad. My dad would be off feeding the cows and laughing at all the times I killed the truck because I could shift correctly. Let’s just say, I didn’t make it very far. He may have been scared to let me drive, but he never discouraged me from trying.
Hard work was taught through example:
Being a farmer doesn’t mean you get holidays off, vacation time, or a break. Even when farmers do get breaks, I bet you that they are thinking about what could be going wrong, or what they will have to do when they get back. It takes a special person to be able to get up every day and work. Growing up I watched my dad spend hours on the farm taking care of livestock or working late into the night trying to get the planting done. I learned valuable lessons from him, the one I love the most is to never give up. No matter how tired you are or how much you want to. Keep pushing yourself to do better.
My favorite daddy daughter moment:
I sat there crying and upset, feeling the absolute worst. My dad came over and asked if I would help check the fence and spray the weeds. We were going to take the gater and he needed a driver. Of course me bring stubborn I didn't want to help, I didn't want to get up and go. Somehow, he persuaded me to go. We rode through the pasture and he didn't ask any questions, but he made me laugh. He got my mind off what was consuming my mind and made me remember the simpler times. He is good at that- good at making me forget the problems and enjoy the little moments that make life so good.
As I get older and I start to look back, I come to realize how much I miss those moments I took for granted. The simple moments I spent with my dad are ones I miss when life gets crazy. The relationship my father and I built was and still is amazing and to this day he is still my best friend. Our daddy daughter dates weren’t filled with fancy restaurants, but where filled with hours sitting in a tractor just talking. He is the one I go to when I need to vent, he knows how to make me laugh and get my mind off of whatever the issue could be. No matter how old I get, I will forever be proud to be a farmer’s daughter. I love you, dad.
