I Mow Every Day

Just before Oshkosh (which I did not attend) we had a Fly-in here at the house. It was a great success. We had seven planes here, not counting my two. We had Bison Burgers on the grill. Corn on the cob. Chili. We had a reunion of seven guys from the Cumberland Airlines days of the mid seventies. BD in the Stearman gave rides. Chris in the Sky Arrow did too. I flew both of my planes. I could write a pretty long post about the Fly-in, maybe some other time. About a week ago we had another party. It wasn't a fly-in. My son had some friends over for swimming and a campfire. My son turned 21 in July. One of my favorite songs of all time is a country song called "Someday Soon". It was on the charts in the sixties, by Judy Collins. Then a nice cover was done in the eighties by Suzi Bogguss. Whenever I'm in a karaoke place (rare) I sing this. It was written by an old folksinger/cowboy named Ian Tyson. Anyway, the first line of the song is "There's a young man that I know, just turned twenty one". Now I want to re-write that song, or at least make a music video, in honor of my son turning twenty one. Back to this party. My son at one point said to me "Hey dad, want a beer?". That little statement crossed me into the next phase of my life. Some things happened around the time of the party. One thing was that my son had a nice big fancy lunch with his mom and I. He regaled us with stories of Hollywood. I had a chance to ask him if he would mind it if his mom and dad downsized to North Carolina or Tennessee. His answer was positive and a little surprising. Another thing that happened was a friend of mine lost his wife in a medical emergency. She was 49 and they had been married 31 years. His best friend "Wayne" is a friend of mine. I saw a nice side of Wayne as he stuck by his friend in a time of crisis. My new respect for Wayne was kind of ruined because we had a spat the day after the little party. I had the spat. He didn't even know why I was frustrated! The fact that he doesn't know how rude he was to me doesn't bode well for our long term friendship. However, the best friend I ever had was a guy who could really piss me off! I used to get really mad at him about every six months. We would have to take a break from each other. I think I must really love Wayne or he wouldn't be able to rile me up so. I guess I'm on a break from Wayne. Another thing that happened was that I tried to mow my entire farm. I could not get it done. I had it done for the fly-in, but I just couldn't get it all for the little party. This is absolutely my favorite time of the year. I love late summer. It's been so beautiful here. Dog days hot during the day. Getting dark a little earlier and cooler. The pool is 85 degrees with no solar blanket. I swim every day. I mow every day, but just for a while. Little showers have prevented dry fields and our bean crop looks great. My son Matt shot video of me for a music video. I wanted to have him in the video, but he refused on-camera work. He had some great ideas and we had great fun. I'm so happy. I have everything I want. You want to know what my only problems are? No? I'm going to tell you anyway. First problem: I probably have some terminal disease like cancer or worse, yet to be diagnosed. Second: we don't have enough money to keep going like we are and it looks like a downsize will be coming in a year or three. When I think about a move to Carolina or Tennessee further from friends and family and into a simpler life, will I miss our farm on the east coast of Maryland? The answer: I can't think of a better thing then being isolated somewhere in a small dwelling with my wife. I'm happy now and I'll be happy then. Because she's my best friend and to me the most enticing and exciting woman in the world. I dedicate this post to my friend GK as he has lost his wife. Take it one day at a time Gerald.