So God Made a Farmer – and a Grandfather

Last night’s game started off rather boring.  The commercials weren’t really doing anything for me, either.  Then the Dodge Ram ad came on and there was silence – and a few tears – in the room.

See, I grew up on a farm.  My paternal grandfather was a farmer, my maternal grandparents were farmers, and my parents helped out on both sides.  And while I listened to Paul Harvey’s voice share all the special characteristics of farmers, I couldn’t help but think especially of my maternal grandfather who passed away a few years ago.

My grandfather worked hard.  Farmers’ days don’t start when the sun comes up and they don’t end when it goes down.  He would be up and out to work many times by 4 a.m. (a schedule that my grandmother, who is in her 80s, still often keeps).  And that was after getting up in the middle of the night to go stoke the fires in the potato houses so the harvested crop wouldn’t freeze in the middle of sub-zero Northern Maine winters. Continue reading »