Becoming Mrs. Farmer Brown

This week is the week of our anniversary, 10 years holy cow, where did the time go?  I thought it would be a good time to reminisce about what happened during harvest.  Hold on to your seats because, I drove the tractor! 

Yes that's me in the rear view mirror, couldn't get better pictures, I was busy!

I knew the day I married Farmer Brown that one day I would get “the call” the one asking me to come out and help for one reason or another.  That day came towards the end of harvest this year.  I had a day off, and FB called and in typical fashion asked if I was busy.  Well, again, yes I am doing something, sometimes I think he is just making sure I’m not slacking around the house! 

In the end I told him I could come out and see what I could do. Essentially he gave me a 15 minute lesson on how to drive the tractor, work the grain cart, and catch from the combine on the fly.  And in the mix we had issues with the grain cart so for awhile I was going back and forth with two tractors.  A John Deere and Case IH tractor, guess what, the controls are not the same!! 

Following FB in the combine.

I did the best I could, but in the 15 minute lesson I missed a few items FB was trying to throw at me. So I didn’t do the greatest job that day in fact I almost put the tractor in the ditch once.  But through it all FB never raised his voice or got angry, I’m sure anyone listening to the radio that day was laughing so hard.  And when FB came home I asked him a bunch of questions and we realized that I wasn’t using neutral correctly, and the seat needed to be adjusted more for my short legs. 

The next day I was able to leave work early, picked up the Brown boys from school and we headed out to help FB harvest.  It was just us, a family, out harvesting and you know what it was almost fun. I was driving better, I was dumping into the cart better, and we almost had a great time. 

I learned so much those two days!  Not only how to drive the tractor and what not to do, but I learned a bit about how hard FB’s job is, wow I had no idea.  I also learned that I was maybe leaving the kids in the tractor with him a little too long.  Why they didn’t call me to come pick them up sooner is beyond me, but I was definitely leaving them out there too long with Dad.  Their attention span out there is shorter than I thought.

And maybe the most important lesson was learning to work together.  Catching on the fly for a newbie like me felt like the activity where you blind fold a spouse and the other spouse has to walk them through a maze or something in an attempt to trust the other person.  I felt completely blind and a little helpless when I didn’t know what to do and had to completely listen to FB, and trust what he was saying. 

I’m so blessed that I can go and learn what FB does, and for anyone who might be blessed with the time I encourage everyone to do the same.  Might give you a different perspective on your spouse, and why he or she comes home in the mood they do.  I certainly see things in a different light.  Now I’m most certainly not a relationship expert, but I am currently in a marriage that just inched into the double digits.

Us after 10 years married, not too shabby!