| One of my uncles is a medical retiree because of eyesight, also a cattle farmer and naturally, a good Co-op customer. He is the “just younger” brother of my dad who passed away in 1993. Since my dad’s death, when the opportunity presented itself, I have found myself occasionally talking to this uncle about things that I wished that could have talked to my dad about. However in the past several years I have drifted away from taking advantage of this kind of opportunity.
On this Memorial Day weekend, he was having some pinkeye problems in his cattle and needed to get them up for treatment. He was looking for some extra corral panels to handle his herd. The retiree that he normally “partnered” with and who did all the driving was out of town. It was my afternoon to work until 3:00 but I managed to take off long enough to go to his farm to pick him up. I showed him the cattle panels which we had, but all our stock was light duty and not suitable for the job that they were needed for.
Knowing the urgency of treatment for pinkeye and the inconvenience of the approaching Memorial Day weekend, I was determined to help him find the panels that he needed. I finally located some panels at a competitor’s business in a neighboring county. We made plans to go get them as soon as I could get off work. I could hardly believe that I was spending my already shortened Saturday afternoon driving anyone, even my uncle, to a competitor’s business.
On the surface, the trip seemed to be all for nothing because they did not have the panel that he wanted in the quantity they said they had. The trip however was enjoyable. My uncle and I reminisced about events that happened many years ago and some experiences that we shared, some involving my dad.
My dad and my uncle were close and had often helped each other in cattle farming, hauling hay, cutting firewood, hunting (back when my uncle’s eyesight was good) and even running a service station for a period of time. Many of their ventures involved my cousins, my brothers and myself. At that time it was hard for me to appreciate rolling out of bed early on Saturday morning to stack wood, pile brush all day long, put nitrogen around the corn by hand or other such things. But now I wish that my own sons could have some of the experiences that I was privileged to have and be able to look back later and cherish those times.
We talked of current events, happenings at the Co-op, the war on terrorism and Pat Tillman, the NFL player who gave up millions to join the Army and was just killed in Afghanistan. I’m sure that we worked out solutions to many of the world’s problems... if only people could understand our wisdom and take our advice.
As we got closer home after our burnt run, he reached for his wallet and tried to pay me twenty dollars for gas. He kept insisting and I kept resisting. Finally he put away his wallet after I insisted that I was still indebted to him for all the times that I had borrowed his cattle trailer, tractor and implements and other favors. He repeatedly apologized for wasting my Saturday evening on a trip that accomplished nothing.
I let him out and went on my way but I couldn’t help think about what just happened. |
