While I was gone, anniversary

I flew back from Pensacola yesterday, getting to the office about 2 pm. I would have enjoyed Pensacola more if Mama had been with me. I am not much for the beach; especially alone, but I went to Pensacola beach Monday evening to see if there might be any shells I could collect for Mama. There were not. The tide was in so there was nothing on the beach itself. I did not go prepared to get into the water. It was my understanding that the beach had been closed for a period of time because of flesh-eating bacteria alerts. I am not sure when the beach reopened, but there were a lot of people there. Perhaps it was not as crowded as it might have been without the scare of malignancy in the water, but it seemed crowded to me. It was also very hot. I did not stay long. I did check out one of the shell shops to see if anything grabbed my attention, but I did not stay there long either.

While I was in Pensacola, Mama called me in a bit of a panic. Some of the panic was caused because a couple of persistent rat snakes keep showing up in the coop. She is learning to deal with that. She has resolved herself to the fact that the snakes will not hurt her full-grown chickens so, as long as they are concentrating on catching rats and mice and not eating eggs, they will be tolerated. That is, until we put the baby chicks out there. Then the snakes will have to go. Mostly she called to see if we were ready for a bottle baby calf. Kim at the stock sale called Mama early Monday morning to let her know that one was coming through the sale and she wanted Mama’s yes or no to buy the calf. I would have said yes, but Mama hesitated, and the little heifer calf was sold to someone other than Mama.

When Kim first called or texted, Mama said yes, but in a short while she hinted that we might not be ready yet to place a bottle baby on the farm. Kim went on the last sentiment. At an auction, things move very quickly, and Mama was not definite enough for Kim to buy the calf on Mama’s behalf. It sold for $140. That would have been a very cheap heifer for us to raise. Oh, well. It probably turned out for the best. Finances are always tight at the first of the month. Other than those couple items, Mama had a pretty routine time in my absence. As far as the two snakes are concerned, I could have caught them last night when I closed up the chickens, but that would have caused Mama more of an issue this morning than just letting them alone.

Today, however is not an ordinary day. It is Mama’s and my 37^th anniversary. When we had been married only a few years we talked about growing old together – and here we are. Not old yet, but today we are thirty-seven years older than when we started. And both of us feel the time that has passed and the miles we have covered since we started our walk together. I cannot imagine life without Mama. That is the way it should be.

What, you may ask are we doing to celebrate this anniversary? Not much really. Mama and I will go out to dinner this evening. We will do some shopping and we will go home. All after we care for the animals on the farm and water the plants that will die without our constant care. Later this year we will travel somewhere together and possibly count that as a late anniversary celebration. But at this point in our marriage just being there for each other is enough. When a couple understands that time with each other and attention given to each other is more important than things, whether given in the form of gifts or in specially arranged events, they have begun to understand what it takes to stay together. Mama and I do not try to out give each other. We just try to enjoy each other. All the peripheral things come as that one sacrifice is honored. The sacrifice of our whole being to each other.

That is our most important work. That is our most productive work. A task that affects every area of our lives as well as many lives around us. May God grant that we will live out the rest of our lives in that attitude of sacrifice and surrender to God and to each other.