May is the home of Mother’s Day. That one day out of the year where you should more than likely call your mama and make sure she knows you still exist and care about her. Every mother in the world is special, they put up with a lot from their children, even more from their spouse. I think that farm and ranch mothers are in a class all by themselves. These women are the salt of the earth, and without them many family operations would fall apart.
Most ranch moms start their day before the rest of the house has made it out of bed. This is the only time of the day that she might have to herself. The stillness of the early morning hours is only broken by the sound of coffee being brewed in the kitchen. She’ll curl up with her favorite blanket on the couch and spend some time in a book or in her bible. She’ll use this time to gather her thoughts and plan her day. Her quiet time is usually interrupted by her husband rummaging through the cupboards as he finds the pots and pans to cook himself breakfast. As the rest of the house begins to stir and rise for the day, she greets them all with a smile and a warm embrace to start their day off right. She makes sure her children do their chores before they sit down at the breakfast table and kisses her husband goodbye as he walks out the door to start his workday.
She begins the school lessons for the day, or gets her kids sent off to school in town. With this task done, she moves on to her other tasks for the day. Her part time job keeps her busy a couple days out of the week, but today she gets to stay home and catch up on other things. She’s helping organize a fundraiser at the church along with a few other ladies, all while she takes some meat out for supper, helps the kids with a difficult math problem, starts a load of laundry and tackles the mountain of dishes that seem to accumulate in the sink. Just as she gets into the swing of her day, her husband will call with a problem that he needs help with.
Aside from being Mom, she’s also the head parts getter for the ranch when there is a breakdown. She’ll drop what she’s doing at home, load the kids up in the car and drive an hour one way to get a part that her husband needs right away. While she’s in town, her husband will call her with a list of ten other things that he needs. He’s learned from experience not to call and ask what is taking so long because next time he might have to go for parts himself. When Mama gets home, she’ll end up covered in oil and grease because her husband needs her help putting the parts on whatever piece of equipment he’s working on.
The day is getting late when a neighbor calls and asks if Mom can keep their kids for the evening because they have an urgent problem to take care of. Her heart of gold can’t say no and she postpones starting supper while she runs to get them. When she gets home, she finds the dishes she needs for supper are soaking in the sink where she left them earlier that day. She’s about to cry from exhaustion when her husband comes in with a frozen pizza and offers to cook supper for the night.
Tomorrow will be a new day for the ranch Mama, there will be new problems, new distractions and new blessings. She wouldn’t trade this chaos for anything because she knows that this is the life for which she prayed. God is good, and I’m sure he’s got a spot reserved special for every mama.
That’s all for this time, be sure to tell your mom how much she means to you and spoil her just a little for Mother’s Day. Keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire and God Bless