Mother's Day Reflections

We all celebrated Mother’s Day this weekend, which made me reminisce about my mother when I was a small child. The most vivid moments in my memory are spending time with her in a field — a field where the green grass covered the hills and the animals surrounded us. I hear the purr of the red UTV’s engine, feel the sand under my seat sitting in the back, and see the blue empty tote and tackle box next to me. I smell iodine and the earth.

My mother’s main role on the farm was to care for the mamma sows and piglets. This came with many unfavorable tasks like giving piglets shots, sewing up a wound on a piglet’s leg, aiding a sow during birth by using her bare hands, or running for her life from an angry, swift mamma pig.

I watched my mother do it all. I saw fear blanket her body, and she chose to do it anyway — every single day. While she gathered each piglet to count and care for after birth, she would tell my sister and me to sing a song loudly about Jesus to calm the mamma sows. I always thought we were protecting my mother and had a really important job. I realize now how smart and thoughtful she is.

Sometimes piglets would be too hard for her to gather without someone keeping watch, so she’d send me into the shelter. She was my protector and showed me how to move through my own fears.

Being able to watch my mother work on this farm was more impactful than I ever dreamed. She tackled so many different tasks in one single day, serving both her family and the land. If I can take an ounce of her strength — I’m a better mom for it. Thanks, Mom, for showing me the way; this farm, business, and our family are better for it.