Don is my pen pal from Rapid City. Our friendship began when he wrote to comment on my columns. After reading my essay on keeping boxes, he shared about boxes from his younger days. He and his family farmed. They did things the old way, but we all did back then. Don’s family raised tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, and onions, as well as regular crops, and planted hundreds, even thousands, of garden plants by hand. Harvested the same way, often hiring teenagers to pick and pack the produce. They used wooden boxes, bushel baskets, and gunny sacks, and he still has a supply of those items. There was a U-Pick operation for those willing to harvest their own, and a vegetable stand that ran on the honor system. Now, at 90, he can’t believe how hard they worked, but it sounds to me like he still doesn’t sit around much.
I can’t believe how I got it all done either, back in the day. Cooking and laundry for a family of six, and various hired men. Raising and preserving enough garden stuff to get through the winter. I baked bread every other day, did all the lawn work, helped in the hayfield, checked pastures, milked the cows, car pooled with neighbors for school and extracurricular activities, and kept the books. I miss those gunny sacks and bushel baskets; we repurposed them a lot. We didn’t have much but we didn’t need much either, and didn’t know we were supposed to. Paraphrasing a country song: that was back when people could work, and still would. Our kids learned to work early because it took all of us to get it done. They’re still hard workers. We taught them well, but were so focused on work we kind of skipped some important stuff; I suppose, believing they would get it by osmosis.
The ability to focus is a valuable tool but sometimes it allows us to narrow our world view. Gerri Petersen is the owner, editor, and lone staff member of a small-town newspaper, and she does a marvelous job of keeping her professional and personal life in balance. Growing up in Mullen, NE, she always wanted to come home and own the local newspaper. She was pretty young when she achieved her goal, but didn’t stop there. I don’t think Gerri sleeps much. She and her husband are big on community service, and she’s been a member of boards for state press associations.
Her newspaper covers the usual sports, minutes of meetings, and tidbits about church and youth activities. She has high school students write articles about senior citizens they have interviewed. If she sees a way to make her community better, she jumps on it. Gerri and her husband Dane are presently in the thick of teaching their 6 and 10 year-olds to be better. Better at reading, spelling, math, shooting baskets, taking their dishes to the sink, and talking to adults. Better at listening and controlling their tempers. She knows being better just takes lots of practice, whether it’s picking up trash on the street or regular exercise. Practicing to become better human beings includes making time for things that serve others. Gerri’s life is evidence that the work will get done, and focusing on a wider world will benefit everyone.
Back to that country song. I don’t think the good times are really over for good. Not if we work to be better.
Meet me here next week, and meanwhile, do your best. Somebody might like it.