Down On the Farm
Life on the farm started out great. We got moved in, everything was unpacked and organized, and I was working on the house to turn it into our home. My husband was enjoying nature, and we had even bought a couple of horses. One was a quarter horse, which was his, and the other was a Tennessee Walker. The walker was mine. I wasn't quite as good on a horse as my husband was, so he thought a horse that was easier to ride and handle would be best for me. It turns out he was right. I had tried riding quarter horses, and they were a bit too rough for me. I didn't like riding if it meant having my bum ache for days afterward. My husband had grown up with horses all his life, and he knew exactly how to sit and move with the horse to prevent any pain. Either that, or his bum was made of tough leather! He even taught my daughter to ride a horse. Now she had found a new love, horses!
My step daughter had come to live with us at the farm for a year when we first moved in. She married not too long after my husband and I were married. Her husband was a military man. The bad news was that he had gotten stationed in Korea. She didn't want to be alone for a year, and decided to move in with us. The biggest factor with that decision was because she was pregnant with our first grandchild!
It was actually really nice when my daughter in law moved in. She had grown up some, and now her and my daughter had a chance to develop a sister type of relationship. I got to spend some quality time getting to know her too. We actually developed a great relationship. She was always curious about how to cook this, or how to bake that, so we spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and talking. My step son had gone into the army, and was stationed in Texas. He would call often, and usually spent more time on the phone talking to his sister and I than with his dad.
My parents loved being at the farm. They were getting older at this point, but still knew how to enjoy life. My dad particularly enjoyed riding horses with my husband. He said that he wasn't too old to enjoy riding. Oh, he may have had to stand on the picnic table while my husband held the Tennessee Walker so he could get on, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. It seemed like my parents were at our house more than they were at their own, but that was fine with us. I loved cooking for my dad, because he loved eating so much. There's nothing like cooking for a man who thoroughly enjoys his food! We were always going fun places, or out to eat somewhere with my parents as well. We even bought a larger car, a Ford Explorer with a third row of seating because they were with us so much. It was great that my dad and my husband got along so well. Even my step daughter started calling my parents grandpa and grandma.
Well, before we knew it, my step daughter had the baby. It was a baby girl! Now, this baby girl was the apple of her papaw's eye. He was so proud of his first grandchild. I remember one day he said to me, "Did you ever have something that you loved so much, that every time you looked at it, it made you so happy you almost cried? Well, that's how I feel about this baby girl!" Before we knew it he was scooping her into his arms, taking her outside, and going for rides all around the farm on the lawn mower. And he was grinning ear to ear the whole time. It broke my husband's heart when my sone in law came back from Korea and took his daughter and granddaughter to Georgia where he was stationed.
I had spent a lot of time working on the house over the past several years, so I didn't have a job at that point. The house was my job, and it took most of my time. In between all of the work on the house, gardening etc., I decided to revisit something that I loved, drawing and artwork. I took up drawing pen and ink drawings. Some were plain black and white, some were washed with water colors. Art was something I had loved doing as a child, and even then I could just lose myself in it for hours at a time. I usually just did the pen and ink drawings for myself, or to give as gifts, but when family and friends started seeing them, I began getting special requests. I think that creative side of me was also why I enjoyed fixing up the farm house so much. Art starts as a vision in the mind first, then gets put into reality by the hands. I have always loved to create something beautiful from nothing. I loved making unique treasures that started as a picture in my head. I even started taking some art classes locally, and couldn't wait until my next class. It felt like everything in the world was right. I learned so much in those classes. It was what I was meant to do, create! I created a beautiful nativity scene painted on wood, a painting of a covered bridge, and a nature scene from the river at our farm. The two paintings were on canvas framed in antique looking frames.
My joy came to a halt one day when when my husband told me I had to stop taking art classes because the supplies, materials and frames cost too much. He said that he was tired of paying for it. He told me that if I had the money to pay for it, then I could keep painting, other wise I was done. I was devastated. It seemed so cruel to take away something that meant so much to me, especially after all of the work I had put into our home, the yard, the garden and even with his daughter and little baby grandaughter. I quit the art classes at his request though, because I didn't have anything to pay for them with. My art instructor wasn't happy to see me go. She said that I had a real talent and was one of the best students she had taught in a long time.
My plan was to go back to college and finish my degree eventually. It seemed like now was a good time. I got an early morning call one day from my sister. She asked me if I would please do her a favor. She had taken a job at a subcontracting firm for a company that was cleaning up an old military weapons manufacturing plant for the EPA. She said that she desperately needed some people to work in an office setting doing data entry. She asked if I would consider doing that, even if it was just temporary. I wasn't quite sure about it at the time. It was an hour drive for me one way. She told me that the pay was good, and that it would be worth it. When my husband heard about it, he insisted that I take the job. He said he was tired of paying for everything. I finally agreed. I could take the art classes again with the extra money. The sad part was that they were only available during the day when I would be at work. Oh well, I guess I was going to be off on a new job adventure instead of an art adventure!
Lesson Learned: Do what is your passion no matter who critcizes you, or who tries to stop you. You can't live your life on someone else's terms.
#DownOnTheFarm, #FirstGrandchild, #LiveWithDonna, #ThePhoenixRisingWoman
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