or shall we say
the changing of the daughters?
My older 2 sisters have taken a turn & now it's my turn to make the trip home to help out with the care of Mom during her recovery. Mom might actually be the easy part of this, it's Dad that we need to watch guard over...
You may remember Dad broke his femur during a fall from the apple tree this fall. We are still doctoring with his break, as it has been somewhat slow in healing. Bone grafting is still not out of the picture. His doctor says 50 lbs of weight on the leg. Last visit home, he's pretty much walking (with a slight gimp) all over...he's a big guy at about 250, so you do the math...How do you keep an 81 year old retired farmer from doing his springtime duties around the farm?
He has sticks to pick up, yard to fertilize & mow, tractors to get "tuned- up" & gardens to till...
A garden that was tilled in the fall in both directions by my darling husband and probably won't get used this year.
It's springtime,
time to smell that smell of freshly turned soil...I just keep telling myself it's the farmer in him.
Mom has spent the last 7 months caring for him during his recent mishap and keeping him somewhat confined to the chair with his leg up & constantly reminding him he is cheating...putting too much weight on that leg. His "shop" had been totally off limits to him during this time. Mother nature even helped, as she put a huge snow drift in front of his "shop", making it impossible to get into the door. The "shop" is my dad's sanctuary...this is where he spends his days, tinkering on his old restored tractors and inventing & making new attachments for them. I really do believe, that had my dad had the privilege of school past the 8Th grade & any college at all, he would have been the 2ND Henry Ford.
His creations never cease to amaze me...
They have the make-do look to them, using up scraps of iron & remnants of various items collected on the farm over the years...
now with a new purpose.
(this is the sign that greeted me at the end of the lane the day of dad's accident...I read it, noticed the "s" was backwards, I took a picture & then I cried.)Nothing should go to waste, this is my Dad's theory...
just as the apples he was picking to give away, at the end of his lane, the day he broke his leg.
Then springtime came and Mom got sick...
I'm not sure what worried Mom more, her diagnosis & surgery or knowing Dad was home alone to get in all sorts of trouble out in his "shop".
So I'll be gone for a few days, helping Mom and standing guard at the doorway of Dad's "shop". Making sure he doesn't cut any major tendons, catch his gas-scented coveralls on fire, use sandpaper on his hands to remove this "wonderful new glue", called Gorilla Glue, or blow himself halfway across the yard on a water tank...
all things this Dad of mine has done.
Wish me luck!
Brenda
11 comments:
holding you and your parents in my prayers sweetie!
paying for you and your family and your parents. hang in there and know that through Christ all things are possible.
Thought and prayers to you and your family! I was laughing at the things your Dad has done and his "shop"...I had one grandfather with a "shop" - amazing man and another who always seemed to do "those" types of things! Thanks for bringing some of my memories back into the light today!
Your prose is as creative as your designs. I only wish this story weren't so true. Retired farmer fathers can be so unrelenting. I'm glad your mother is recovering well. Good luck with your "shift."
I too have parents that need some help...I love them but sometimes I am just darn tired....best wishes. Dianntha
Such bittersweet memories you have shared. It is our loving "duty" to care for our aging parents, as trying as it can be at times. They, of course, want to continue with business as usual, and it is our job to gently persuade them to change what they have always done. It is a sad time indeed, but oh, the memories we will have of this passage of time.
No high school education or college could have taught your father to be the "Dad" you seem to admire and love so much. You are truly blessed, backward S and all!
Blessings to you and your family, it is tough changing the roles with our parents. My grandfather loved to garden and nothing kept him from doing it.
Debbie
My thoughts and prayers go with you. Your writing is just beautiful!
How wonderful that your parents can depend on you and your sisters for help. God bless you all. I hope your time with them is very special to you.
My parents lived on the farm and yours sounded a great deal like mine. My older brothers and sisters wanted dad to move to town after mom passed away, but he wouldn't hear of it. He just like puttering as he called it around the farm, but he could get in trouble to. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I did chuckle and I hope you won't take offense because it brought back wonderful memories for me. Take care.
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