Summer Vacation On The Farm

School’s out, Summer vacation begins…

What does that look like for a farm kid?  It looks a lot like heading down the hill to check the animals with sleep in your eyes, still wearing pjs. You’ll skip breakfast, weed the garden, get filthy, and stay filthy.

You’ll raid the snack bin, and warm up leftovers around noon. While your mom works at her computer, you’ll sneak in a couple hours of TV, until she hollers, “get your butt back outside!”  

Your mom will instruct you to work on a skill for awhile. So you’ll find random objects around the farm like a five gallon bucket, a cooler, and a stroller, then throw a ball into each to see which kid can make the most baskets.  And you’ll find a huge stick, and take turns walking under it, mastering the limbo.

You’ll beg for ice cream and popsicles at least four times a day, and maybe get lucky once. You’ll band together with your siblings, and walk around the farm like a notorious street gang, spying on the farmers and planning an attack that never happens.

Someone will get hurt.  You will fall and scrape your knee, and your younger sibling will break a glass trying to grab chocolate milk for themselves. Don’t worry, your mom will always kiss your boo-boo, and sometimes find you a band-aid.

You’ll finally eat a hearty dinner when the sun sets, and might snag a bath afterwards, or at least a good spray down from the hose. Your bedtime will be anywhere from eight o’clock to eleven o'clock, depending on your parents’ patience level.  

You’ll say your prayers and thank God for the beautiful day, and maybe even about that time you smacked your sister when you were angry. He knows about it already, so you might as well fess up. You'll beg your mamma for a lullaby and sweet butterfly kisses. 

After at least a half hour of total chaos jumping in and out of your bed, running to your siblings’ rooms, and making a fort out of every fitted bed sheet from the closet, you’ll finally fall asleep to rest and be ready to repeat the same routine for the next 75 days.  

It ‘aint always easy being a farm kid; but dog gone it, someone’s gotta do it.