Lonely Farm Wife....

Sugar beet harvest began at 2am on Thursday. That means that most of the local farms are running (darn near) 24 hours a day harvesting and hauling. That means that the highways are overpopulated with large beet trucks the size of semis. That means that they are in charge no matter what.....you don't drive too close, you rarely pass, and you do not cut them off. They rule the highway right now and if they are left alone they do pretty good. Beet harvest makes me not want to drive anywhere unless I absolutely have to.

This year is especially exciting. Apparently (if the rain continues to stay away), this year may be one of the largest harvests in history here. This is big. HUGE actually. And oh so exciting. Though the rest of the country may continue to struggle economically, this small town and many of its inhabitants will most likely thrive this year. Praise God. Praise God. Everyone works so stinking hard around here......they work, they take pride in manual labor and caring for their land, their equipment, their community food shelves, community life in general. And, though we are not farmers by trade, we most definitely share in their joys and hardships......hard winters followed by intense spring floods followed by planting and growing and finally the harvest. 'Tis a beautiful cycle. It truly is.

Anyway, back to beet harvest. The farmer across the road asked John for help this year. And of course, being the incredibly hard working and charitable man that he is, John jumped a the opportunity to help. John's days since Friday have gone something like this:

Friday - 3am wake and head to Jays for 2 hours, stop at home for coffee and food and head to Cargill to work 6am-6pm; workout til 7:30pm; bed by 8:30pm

Saturday - 2am wake and head to Jays for 3 hours, stop at home for coffee and food and head to Cargill to work 6am-6pm; workout til 7:30pm; bed by 8:30pm

Sunday - 2am wake and head to Jays for 3 hours, stop at home for coffee and food and head to Cargill  to work 6am-6pm; home by 6:15p; eat, play, and in bed by 7:30pm.

Monday - 12:15am head to Jays 'til at least 2pm

And tomorrow isn't looking much better. I've tried to talk some sense into him but he's just like the farmers.....they do what they gotta do 'til the job is done and done right. And to be honest with you I am so proud of him for that. How blessed am I to have such a hard working man?!!! This afternoon I called him at work to express my concern over his lack of sleep and him working so darn hard. I told him that though I very much appreciate all that he provides for our family, I feel very inadequate and helpless. HE is the one out there working 18 hour days. HE is the one busting his butt to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. HE is the one providing for 100% of our monetary needs. I see how hard he works and it frustrates me sometimes that I am not out there too bringing home a check. His response was, "Theresa, you know like on Cars.....Lightning McQueen does all the races and gets most of the credit. But you know and HE knows he couldn't do any of it without a solid pit crew. You are my one woman pit crew. I couldn't do it without you to feed me, do my laundry, take care of my kids, and clean up my messes.   .......  Thank you."
I melted. The whole analogy is kinda funny.....funny that he used Cars, but oh so cute because he was absolutely serious. I got what he was trying to say and it made me love him even more. That man swells my heart multiple times a day. Just when I think I couldn't love him more, he does or says something or just looks at me with his smoldering eyes and ***BAM*** my heart flutters and grows and I go weak in the knees. Every.Single.Day.

Beet harvest is here. And I miss my husband oh so much.