The reasons never change

It seems I should be able to talk about things other than losing weight and the weather.  They seem like pretty mundane topics, but I suppose it is all relevant.

Losing this weight is a milestone for me and the weather is affecting everyone in the Heartland.  I heard that even if it started raining today and kept it up, the corn is gone!  The soybeans might make it because their main growth spurt comes in August – IF it starts raining.  The economy of our area depends on these crops.  This could be a disaster for the small farmers that drives out the last of them and makes way for the corporate ones.

It is scary to think I may one of the last generations to know life as it has been for hundreds of years.  I have stood on an old corn picker using my weight to hold it down while a friend drove his little red tractor across the fields.  I’ve eaten fried green tomatoes grown in a garden and cooked in the kitchen of a house that had no indoor plumbing.  I’ve sat in the shade of an old oak tree and scrubbed spark plugs with a wire brush.  The small farmer, the common man, who is pretty much self sufficient is quickly disappearing.

When I was growing up we walked almost everywhere, to school, to church, shopping, even to work.  Families had one car and the breadwinner took it to work.  Now walking is something I have to “work in.” 

I remember the wringer washer my mother had in our basement and how I caught my fingers in it one time.  She popped the new magical release bar on the top and saved my arm.  I remember carrying the basket of clothes pins while my grandmother hung clothes out to dry before going to work in the morning, then helping her use the tall poles that pushed the lines way up high so nothing dragged the ground.  Now I moan about walking to the basement and tossing a load into the automatic washer.  

But the one thing that hasn’t changed are the connections to family and friends.  I can still spend an afternoon with my sister, running around town, playing and I still end my night saying goodnight to my best friend.

I suppose the way things happen is always going to change, but the reason for them stays pretty much the same.