It is true that everyone has a story. Yet the most amazing story for our family was revealed quietly after my mom’s passing.
She had been living in Reedsburg, Wis., after my dad’s death three years earlier. The home where she was living, while in town and convenient to stores, was becoming too much of a burden to keep up. Just ask my brother, Bruce. When he visited from Madison, those supposedly relaxing trips ended being full of “small jobs” from a list Mom created between visits. Albeit, he did leave with fresh homemade apple pie, which my sister and I did envy, but we were grateful for the things he did do for her.
The decision was made to sell the home and move her out of Wisconsin to Texas. Quite the journey for all concerned. The contents of the house were sorted and many things just put into boxes and sent down on the moving van. Once there, the contents were put into the garage and from there her new lovely one-floor home was set up.
Three years later, Mom had a stroke, which prevented her from walking or talking. To say it was hard on everyone is an understatement. Nine months later, she passed. Yet, as a family, I was never prouder of the way my brother, sister and I worked together. Mom and Dad would have been very proud of us.
One day, I got a call from my sister and she said, “Kathleen, you will never believe what I found in an old album that Dad put together.” What she found is the small newspaper article that follows:
“Size of farm should be no greater than the shadow of the operator.
“A letter from Hidalgo County, Texas, tells about F.A. Adkins’ 20-acre farm, which has produced an annual income of $3,000 a year for ten years. Two words give the reason for this good record: Diversity, and management. Five acres of potatoes, four acres of cabbage, an acre of tomatoes, an acre of eggplant, two acres of peppers, two cows, and flock of laying hens. Nearness to the city is all that prevents his raising pigs.
“All of which proves the truth of the old saying that a big farm is not the first requirement for a good farm income. When the farm is so big the operator can’t keep in touch with everything, it’s too big for greatest profit.”
We marveled at the fact that the writer suggested that if you buy 20 acres of land and have many different crops, you will have a good income. You do not need a big farm. Guess what? That is exactly what Dad did with his life. We had 20 acres out in the country near Tomah, Wis. We grew up picking strawberries and cucumbers. In later years, the 10 acres of apple trees he planted produced 14 different kinds of apples. It was there we all learned the true meaning of teamwork.
Now for the amazing part. Janet said, “Kathleen, the author of the article lives in the same county where Mom lived here in Texas.” An album we never knew existed, and obviously put together by my Dad over 65 years ago, revealed that he had a plan that we never knew he had in his life. And because he worked his plan all his life, my mother lived in comfort the remaining years of her life, after he was gone, in the same county where the author had written those few words.
Never underestimate the power of writing your words down.
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