Monday, April 21, 2014

A Hundred Years

There aren't enough hours in the day.

The Milkman has been getting up about 3am to go milk at one of the farms where part of our momma cows are temporarily at. Then he comes home, feeds the baby calves here, and immediately goes to work on whatever he can do on the barn. I may see him for lunch, but other than that I don't see him until about 10pm, or later, at night. It's just that kind of cycle right now. The Milkmaids are missing him, I am missing him, the coon dogs are missing him (and I've been feeding them, so that's extra missing him from me!) I even think I heard his recliner and remote calling for him today! He always works hard, but this whole barn burning thing has thrown us into a whole new definition of not enough hours being in the day!

The only time it is normally like this is during silage season. That would be coming up in about 2 weeks!! EEEEKKK!!! We have equipment to service and make repairs on. We have to get all the storage places ready to be filled with the green (not money, but wouldn't that be something) God has given us! We have long days to prepare for! Chopping silage is some dirty, hard work. You gotta mow the stuff down, drive the chopper over it and chop it up, the chopper spits it out all chopped up into the bed of a dump truck, and the dump truck delivered it either to a pit (big drive-in hole with concrete sides) or we use our silage bagger. The bagger stuffs all the silage into big, long white plastic tubes.

The silage has to have a certain percentage of moisture in it. Usually, during the spring season, we have to cut it down and let it dry out some. That is, if we can get into the fields. Some springs are so wet we can't get the stuff put up! In the years we can get it cut and dried out that 's when the chopper does its thing and if it goes in the pit it is covered up. The silage has to ferment to reach the highest nutritional value for our mommas. Being able to put up our own forages makes things much easier on the check book!! Not to mention that we know how the feed was grown and we can take it to have all the nutritional values checked ourselves.

In 2011 and 2012 when we had a couple of bad drought years where we didn't get very much silage or hay up and we had to buy forages. This combined with previous years of low milk prices put a lot of dairies out of business. We were, thankfully, able to survive. It wasn't easy. There were times we weren't sure we could pay the bills. But God saw us through that tough time too. To Him be the glory, for sure!

I think from 17 years old until you hit about 25 it isn't so bad to stay up late, get up early, and work hard those hours between. Your body doesn't really protest and your eyes don't try to close on their own quite so frequently. But the Milkman has past that stage. So have I! The stress and worry combined with the little sleep and physical labor takes its toll a little quicker than before. Your body squeaks and aches a lot more. Your eyes close the minute you sit still. We have pushed ourselves to the limit this week. I hope a little relief comes soon. In the form of a usable barn!!!

Trying to help the Milkman all week and taking care of our Milkmaids has left my house in a little (or a lot) of disarray. The normal groceries haven't been bought and our meals have consisted of sandwiches or leftovers of what all the awesome friends have brought and Sonic or pizza. Except for our Easter dinner! That was awesome! Grandma Moo Moo (yep...the Milkmaids call her that) cooked a wonderful lunch. But soon after we were back out painting stalls and sawing concrete. See! I don't have enough hours in the day either! I just can't get it all done. I have been able to keep everyone alive, though. We can call that a win, right?

Those times we are so busy that we can't get it all done, we just wish for a few more hours in the day. That would solve it all.

I'm starting to see (in my ripe, wise age of very early 30's) that when we get to this place where we don't have enough hours, it's probably a sign that we should slow down. That we need to take a few breaths. We have more than enough hours in the day because the Good Lord made the days the way they should be. Shorter in the winter when the crops don't grow and longer in the summer when we need a little more time to plow or plant or chop silage.

We need to take some time and appreciate the beauty around us. Because if we don't appreciate it, who will? If there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done then we should probably quit putting so much pressure and stress on ourselves to get it done in a day. We aren't promised tomorrow, but if we don't see tomorrow whatever didn't get done won't matter much anyway. My grandma always says, "If you don't get it done, it will still be there tomorrow. A hundred years from now you won't know the difference."

Slow down. It doesn't make what you need to do less important, it just makes you feel better, your kids feel better, your parents feel better. Look around you. Evaluate what is important to you. Have you called your mom or your grandma? Have you hugged your kids and told them how important they are to you? Have you played fetch with your dog? We are guilty, every day of taking for granted what we have waiting for us to "get it all done." My house is a mess, but the world hasn't ended. The groceries we normally eat aren't in the kitchen, but we have survived. I won't be winning any "mom of the year" awards (except the, #1 Mom-for forgetting the sunscreen at ball practice!) but my kids are still here and they still love me.

The Milkman came in early Saturday night. We went to church Sunday and had lunch with his family. He didn't love slowing down, but he did it. He feels better for doing it. We feel better having had a little time with him. The Milkmaids were excited for him to be with them, even if the candy and eggs had their attention.

When life gets overwhelming and there aren't enough hours in the day, put yourself in time out, take a breath, and appreciate what you have right in front of you. If it doesn't get done, it won't matter a hundred years from now. What will matter is that you took the time to tell someone you love them or that you miss them. It will be there tomorrow....and tomorrow has the same amount of hours as today. There may not be enough hours in the day, and there won't be any more in tomorrow. That won't change, but you can. You can make each day, short as it may be, matter. Not because you crossed of everything on your list, or because you actually made it to the gym, or because your house is clean. No. Every day that you make your people feel important and loved is a day that will matter a hundred years from now.

Make it count.




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