End o'lane farm

farm, originally uploaded by staarkidd.

While we were in New Jersey, my mother tood us to a place we had never seen before -her homestead. When my mother was little, her parents moved to this little farm at the end of a long and beautiful lane. She and her sister had to milk the cows each day. When we asked her how many cows, she said, "2 1/2! Ann and i both milked one and we each milked half of another!" Mom milked that cow and a half everyday until the day of her wedding when uncle paul graciously volunteered for duty.

By that time, my grandfather was an alcoholic, dangerous and had brought home "aunt mabel" to live on the farm. When mom left home, her half sister joany wasn't yet a teenager. They haven't been in touch for all of these years, but my mother decided it was time to reconcile the past. She dropped in once last year and returned this week with Kathi and I. We really liked Joanie and her husband. It was also very meaningful to see the property we had heard so much about... and to hear my mom (the missionary) say, "this is the barn where we used to shovel sh#t!".