N.O. Pundit

The Midwest - Part 4

Once a year, dad has a group of men over from the Wesley Willows Assisted Living Community. What fine Christian charity.

Dad pulling a wagonload of fogies off to the woods.

Again, I strove to be of use. For the men I was with, I suppose I was a kid. And being pulled from the Katrina undertow just days before simply added to the thrill. Yeah.

Holding court in the woods.

The woods you see here (and have seen in previous posts) is here today for one reason and one reason only: my great grandmother refused to let the trees be cut down when all the men in the family explained to her in 1942 how beneficial it would be to have five more acres of tillable land.

A simple pleasure along the way.

The simple touches.

After the wagon trip some of the men partook of raspberry picking. Earlier today I alluded to the pleasure and sustenance of work.

Raspberries. Is there anything the can't do!

Lunch!

Yum!

A final indulgence: the tractors!

Farmalls!

I've been biting my bloggy tongue for most of the last several posts. Short and sweet:

Dad has hard work money. He does not have multigenerational family money, nor does he have lottery money. All the beauty, the touches, the tractors, the ability to have high maintenance guests is a result of money. Hard earned, well planned for capital.

If you've been paying attention, this is his childhood home. Never a lack, but also never a luxury. Since the early 1800s, the Greenlees and the Ralstons and the Andrews and McEachrans and the Pickens, and all the rest settled in northern Illinois in towns with the Scottish names of Argyle, Caledonia, Belvidere. Farmers all.

Dad broke from the farming ranks and became a medical doctor. For probably forty five years he broke his back working 70-, 80-, 90-hour weeks providing for his family. When I see him being able to finally give to himself, it gives me great pleasure.

And it does not surprise me in the least that the way he gives to himself is to give to others. I love you dad.

Posted by nopundit at September 30, 2005 11:48 PM