The other day at the fruit stand the lady selling veggies next to me was talking to me about the farm's website
and how she had checked out the website. She said, "The only thing that would make it better would be photos of the farm." Luckily, the day before I had taken quite a few photos. You see, I had a very stressful week so instead of going to class on Thursday like I normally do, The Farmer & I worked around the farm together. We had to pick through peas, shell them to prepare for the market and also pick up a peanut trailer full of the peanut hulls to grind for the cows. Here's some photos and my thoughts on the day.
On the way to get the peanut trailer, I think I had the most fun that i've had in awhile. We drove through a part of town I had never been on filled with fields, pastures, orchards and catfish farms. I was drooling over the scenery or maybe it was the bag full of Zaxby's chicken in my lap.. Either way, I was drooling. I talked off the top of my head the entire ride. Telling The Farmer how much fun it'd be to live on a nice old fashioned farm with a big farmhouse and big red barn outside, then I told him about a farm that was just like that in Kentucky. When we finally got to the little town where we had to get the trailer, I was in love. It was, as The Farmer described it, "an Andy Griffith town". Tiny, old farmhouses lined the main road. Railroad tracks ran through the center of town and a dirt road on the other side lined with more farm houses. There was a tiny general store with a gas station that served breakfast and lunch. The hills all around the town reminded me of the farm towns up in North Carolina where my ancestors are from. I must've told him I wanted to live there at least a million times! There was a cute little white church and a peanut company and everything looked like a movie set in a 1940s movie. It was perfect. On the way out of town I looked over at The Farmer, (we had to drive slow because of the peanut trailer so he got to hear me talk the entire way home), I told him that when I was younger I had always wanted to start up a little small town bakery. We get near the city limits and I see a small abandoned building that would be the perfect bakery, I yelled, "Oh my gosh! Do you see that!? That would be the ideal spot for my bakery!" Of course, I am just dreaming. But wouldn't it be nice? We also passed by an old abandoned antique warehouse, I couldn't help but to picture what a gem for this little town it might've been back in the day. It was massive and had busted out windows and rusted tin but in big faded red letters you could see "ANTIQUES". We drove over the overpass and on the other side was a small outdated motel and an abandoned gas station. It kind of reminded me of the town in the movie "Cars". I think it was called Radiator Springs. Anyway, this little town was a gem in my eye. The Farmer said that the land taxes were too high in that county but there were more cities closer to the other land he farms that he would love to get a house for us in. So I guess I will start the house search in those areas next.
We continued the drive home very slowly, maybe 25 mph the entire way. We talked about life, God, the future, our future children, my family, his family, food, how life would be once we got married. We talked about everything we could think of. We had gotten over halfway home we he starts talking about some chemicals he had been around a few weeks ago. He looked over at me and goes, "What would you do if I ever got cancer?" It kind of struck me off guard and I sat there a minute looking out the window. I thought back to when I was in third grade and my papa got cancer. My nanny exhausted everything, her money, her body, and her mind to get him well again. I remember going to Atlanta when he was sick. I still remember the smells that were in his room and to this day if I smell it, I will get nauseous. I sat there thinking back to that time when he was sick and I finally came up with an answer for The Farmer. "I would do everything I could. I would go broke and when I went broke I'd get a loan or something, I'd take you to the best doctors and fix healthy foods to make you strong again. I would do everything to make you comfortable and help you. I wouldn't want to lose you." He smiled and grabbed my hand. I think at that point we were both tearing up, at least I know I was. He asked, "What if doctors told you it was incurable?" Once again, I stared out the window thinking back to my papa roller skating with me while in stage 3 of cancer. He actually out-skated me that day! I remembered the day he died, I was in the room holding his finger saying, "This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy went to the house..." Then I told him I was going to go get my dolls and as I left he drew his last breath. I've always felt like he wanted to wait till I was out of the room. I turned back to The Farmer, "If the doctors told me there was no cure, I'd pray like crazy, but I would make that time the best time of your life. I'd take you to the beach all the time and we would just sit there at sunset in the sand. (Yes, I got that idea from "My Sister's Keeper".) I'd do everything." I looked over at him and he did a small smile, "I'd do the same for you." I started thinking about all the conversations we had been through. Then I realized the radio had not once been turned on, "Ya know, I used to wonder how my mom and stepdad could drive for hours with no radio on. Now, it kind of makes sense. They love each other." He nodded, smiled and held my hand tighter.
I watched the fields pass by as we drove up to the farm. We had peas to shell so we went ahead and got to work but I couldn't get the day's conversations out of my head. It was so nice to just sit and talk for an hour, just me and him and a bunch of nice conversations. Am I the only one who loves days like this?
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