He Plowed a Field!

Three days ago, Tim drove Nate to Juniper to work with my dad and brothers on the farm.  I posted this on facebook:  "Nate left this morning to go work on the farm and won't be back until the end of July. It felt a lot like the first day of first grade. Isn't it supposed to get easier as they get older?"


I'm not sure why I felt that little twinge of wanting to hold on, and stop time (anyone who's sent a child to first grade knows what I mean), but I did, and still do.  I didn't feel it when he went to other camps earlier this summer--just when he went to the farm.  I think it was the idea of him growing up so fast...wanting to stop time...wanting to hold on to the little boy with blonde curls and a huge smile.  Instead he's working--growing up and taking on adult responsibilities, and it tugged at my heart a little (still does when I think about it).

A comedy of errors has made it so we haven't talked to him since he got there until tonight.  Even tonight he was difficult to get in touch with, so I finally called my brother, Steve.  One of the first things I heard him say was that Nate had finished plowing a field...

Actually the tractor he was driving looked more like this:

My dad believes they don't make them like they used to...  And he's probably right.  So Nate's first field plowing experience was on the old Caterpillar D6.  Have you ever see how much dust gets stirred up when you're plowing a field?  I remember as a kid being amazed that the only white on my dad when he'd come in off the tractor was his teeth and the whites of his eyes.  I'm trying to picture Nate that dirty.  (Maybe I need my mom to take a picture for me.)  My point is that this tractor doesn't have a cab.  No cab + dust = super dusty day!

Tonight I also got to talk to Nate, and he called Tim also.  We're both proud of him, and the work he's doing.  I asked Nate if it was all a little overwhelming or if he was enjoying it.  Of course he's enjoying it.  I knew he would.  The farm gene that skipped a generation (me) has always been in his blood.  From the time he was little, he's been asking to work on the farm.

And I'm not kidding when I say the farm gene skipped a generation.  Ask anyone in my family.  See the above older Caterpillar D6 model?  I got that stuck while plowing a field...that's how much help I was.  (Yes, apparently a tractor with tracks can get stuck.)

It was good to hear from Nate tonight, and even though we miss his wit and presence at home, we know he's in great hands and having an incredible experience.

...But I might have to sneak in a trip to Idaho just to go visit sometime soon.  I miss my boy!  (And am still a bit amused that the boy who doesn't clean his room plowed a field.)