As I was combining today, I was unloading into the auger cart and I saw a vehicle go by a couple times slowly and then pull over and stop.

 Today is a day I'll not soon forget..

As I was combining today, I was unloading into the auger cart and I saw a vehicle go by a couple times slowly and then pull over and stop. I had a minor repair to make and the vehicle stayed... I was a little concerned until I happened to catch 3 little sets of eyes looking out windows.

I went over and they rolled down the window and I asked if they needed anything and the lady explained their grandchildren were visiting from Florida and had never seen "farmer stuff" up close. There were 2 boys and a little girl.. I'd assume they were between the ages of 6 and 9. The two boys were all giddy but the little girl, while sweet and excited was pretty quiet.


I also happen to notice that she kept turning away from me and there was a scar or a birthmark or something on her face... And I felt really bad trying to figure out what it was because I was feeling like I'm staring at her..

The grandmother and her husband thanked me for stopping and saying hi and said they would get going because they knew farmers were busy this time of the year... And I said be careful and have a good trip...

It was then that one of the boys said are you going to be going soon cuz we would like to see what that machine does... the grandmother quickly quieted them and I said would it be okay if I took them for a ride...

She then said No we're sure your way too busy for that and I said no I'm by myself for now I've got time so she asked the two boys if they wanted to go and of course they did but the little girl stayed back.

I asked her again if she wanted to go and she said no thank you and so the boys and I went and got in the combine and we made one round and came back... While in the combine I said why didn't your sister want to come... they said shes shy. I then, because of curiosity, asked them about her face... And they told me it was a birthmark and that she gets picked on about it a lot.

After their ride I walked them back over to their grandparents car and I said to the little girl How come you didn't want to go for a ride? And she said well the boys always say that that kind of stuff is just for boys not for girls...

I laughed and said You know, there are girl farmers AND I even had a young girl in that cab just yesterday. Would you like a ride? She looked at her Grandma and she said go ahead if you want.

I then asked the grandmother if she had a smartphone and knew how to video... She laughed and said I have grandchildren of course I know how to video... So I told her have your phone ready and when you see me turn on the yellow flashing lights video the combine.

The little girl and I got in the cab and I turned the machine around and went back into the field at the end of it and came back facing her grandparents vehicle. I then said to her...here.. you can turn the steering wheel... she first looked at me like I was on crack cocaine... But I finally convinced her and I told her not everybody gets to do this but people that are part of the special face Club definitely get to...but its a secret reason why you get to drive so you cant tell anyone. We even pinky swore on it...

The smile she had made this old tired grumpy mans heart soft and there must have been some Bean dust in the cab because my allergies started acting up just a little bit... So I let her "steer" and turned on the yellow lights on the way back so her Grandma could video tape her "driving by".

We got out of the combine and she still had a huge smile on her face and ran over to her grandma and was a little Chatterbox did you see me did you see me I got to drive I got to drive... Her brothers were obviously a little miffed... And ask her why she got to drive... I was afraid she was going to tell them why... But with all the sass of a little brunette girl with her hair in a pony she looked at them both matter-of-factly and said Because girls CAN farm.

My allergies started acting up a little bit again as she came back running over to me and gave me a huge hug and told me thank you... The grandfather came over and patted me on the shoulder shook my hand said I don't know what you said to her...but that's the biggest smile we've seen on her this vacation so far... the boys shook my hand and thanked me and got back into the vehicle and drove away... Leaving me to my thoughts

And all I could think of was if one of the combines hadnt broke down yesterday, I wouldn't have been in that field this morning, and I wouldnt have been by myself and we would have been really pushed wherever we were at to keep up with everything...and it proved to me once again everything happens for a reason...

All three of their faces were on my mind the rest of the day but mostly hers... not because of her birthmark, because of her genuine smile in the confidence that she showed when she got to get out of that combine and "brag" a little to the boys.

My gramps told me long ago to always be patient with children and people you come in contact with. I remember the countless times that he would let me "drive" the tractor... and the exhilaration and happiness that I felt during that time... And I swore that I was going to make other people feel that way when I got older... and I've definitely failed at that numerous times.. but I'm trying..

But, Im kind of thinking maybe that's what I did today or maybe that little girl made me feel like that little boy with his Gramps all those years ago.

30 minutes out of 24 hours... I need to do that more often....

Today was a good day... and one I shall not soon forget.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That was the sentence a German commander gave me when I was sixteen years old.

Image
“You have three choices.” That was the sentence a German commander gave me when I was sixteen years old. None of them let me remain innocent. My name is Arianne Davaux. I am 82 years old now. I live quietly near Chalon-sur-Saône, in a small house with a garden full of hydrangeas. To the people who pass by, I am just an old woman who smiles politely and keeps to herself. They don’t know that I have carried two deaths inside me for nearly eight decades. They don’t know that in 1943, I learned that hell doesn’t need fire. It only needs a man who smiles… and offers you water before destroying you. I never told this story to my children. I never told it to my husband before he died. I buried it deep, like a body no one was meant to find. But now, sitting alone in this silent house, I know something: If I die without speaking, the truth dies with me. People often believe the horrors of World War II happened far away — on battlefields, in camps with names they learned from books. They ...
Read more

Martha June Sizemore, age 12, had never seen snow before December 12, 1919. She'd grown up in the deepest hollows of West Virginia

Image
Martha June Sizemore, age 12, had never seen snow before December 12, 1919. She'd grown up in the deepest hollows of West Virginia, where winters were harsh but her family's cabin was so sheltered that heavy snow rarely reached them. Martha had heard about snow, had seen thin ice on creek beds, but had never witnessed actual snowfall.  On December 12, 1919, Martha stood in the doorway of her husband's cabin—a one-room structure in a coal mining camp—and watched snow fall for the first time. It was beautiful. White flakes drifting down silently, covering the muddy mining camp in clean white, transforming the ugliest landscape Martha had ever seen into something magical. Martha stepped outside, tilted her face up to catch snowflakes on her tongue, laughed with pure childlike joy at the sensation. For thirty seconds, Martha June Sizemore was simply a 12-year-old girl experiencing something wonderful. For thirty seconds, she forgot she was pregnant. She forgot she was ma...
Read more

On the 14th of February, 2002, in New Mexico, Brianna Lopez was born. Soon after, she was taken home to the small trailer

Image
On the 14th of February, 2002, in New Mexico, Brianna Lopez was born. Soon after, she was taken home to the small trailer where her parents, Andrew Walters and Stephanie Lopez, lived along with her uncle, Steven Lopez, as well as three other adults and two young children. And from the moment she was taken inside that trailer she was ab*sed... It started with the newborn baby being screamed at whenever she would cry, this turned into pinching, biting, and slapping. Things only continued to get worse however (which I hate that this is even possible for an innocent child, what she was already suffering was bad enough). Brianna would be kicked, punched, and thrown around the home... and when the baby understandably cried in pain, her 'parents' and uncle would laugh and ignore her, they wouldn't comfort her, or make sure she was ok.. they would just leave her crying and laugh about what they had done!!! As time went on, and by this I mean just a few weeks after she was bo...
Read more

Each German soldier had 7 minutes per day with each French female prisoner

Image
Each German soldier had 7 minutes per day with each French female prisoner. “I was 20 years old when I learned that the human body could be reduced to a stopwatch. I am not speaking of a metaphor; I am speaking of something literal, measured. Repeated with mechanical precision: seven minutes. That was the time granted to each German soldier before the next one was called.” “There was no clock hanging on the wall of Room 6, no visible dial, and yet we all knew with terrible exactness when those minutes ended. The body learns to count time when the mind has already given up on thinking.  My name is Élise Martilleux. I am now 88 years old, and this is the first time I have agreed to speak about what really happened in that administrative building repurposed on the outskirts of Compiègne between April and August 1943.” “Almost no official record mentions this place. The few documents that do speak of it lie. They say it was simply a sorting center, a temporary transit point towa...
Read more

At just 19 weeks and 3 days, Walter and Clark entered the world. Their mother, Amanda, faced a heartbreaking complication

Image
 At just 19 weeks and 3 days, Walter and Clark entered the world. Their mother, Amanda, faced a heartbreaking complication — a subchorionic hemorrhage that caused one of her twins’ water to break. Doctors urged her to end the pregnancy, but Amanda refused. She chose to carry her sons, to love them fully, even knowing their time would be painfully short. When Walter and Clark were born, their tiny hearts beat strong. They were alive. They were real. Though their lungs weren’t developed enough to survive outside the womb, Amanda and her husband John were able to hold them, whisper to them, and love them with every ounce of their hearts. Clark even startled at their voices a few times — brief sparks of connection that brought joy amidst the sorrow. In those moments, the world felt both unbearably fragile and beautifully alive. “Our perfect identical boys were with us, fully alive in every way that matters,” Amanda shared. “We held them. We loved them. And we will always c...
Read more

In August 1999, two teenage girls: JB Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, were found dea-d in the trunk of a car by the roadside in Ozark, Alabama.

Image
In August 1999, two teenage girls: JB Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, were found dea-d in the trunk of a car by the roadside in Ozark, Alabama. They had been r-aped and shot in their heads. The semen collected from the crime scene yielded no positive leads as the DNA was not matched with anyone in the database. The k-iller, Coley McCraney, who was 26 at the time went back to living his normal life. He even founded a church and became a bishop with children. About two decades later he was arrested and stands trial for the m-urder of the two girls. Coley was arrested after the DNA sample collected from the crime scene was submitted to Parabon Nanolabs, a company based in Reston, Virginia. They can predict people's physical appearance using DNA samples. After Coley's arrest, the police collected another DNA sample from him which was a perfect watch with the semen collected at the crime scene. How A New DNA Technology Helped Solve A Cold Case Coley McCraney was arrested fo...
Read more

I was tied to the ice, slowly dying, while German soldiers watched from a distance as if I were part of an experiment they had seen dozens of times before

Image
I was tied to the ice, slowly dying, while German soldiers watched from a distance as if I were part of an experiment they had seen dozens of times before.  The cold no longer hurt.   That was the  scariest thing.  When the body stops suffering, it has already given up on you.  My lips were violet, my skin bluish, my fingers as stiff as stone. I knew it would be my last day.  And then, in the middle of this silent, white hell, a man approached.  He shouldn't have done that. No soldier should have done what he did , but he did it.  And that is why today, at 86 years old, I am still alive to tell this story. My name is Isoria de la Cour.  I am years old .   I live in a small house in northern France, in the same region where I was born, where I grew up and from which I was taken away in the middle of winter 1943. I have spent 64 years trying to forget what happened in that camp.  I tried to live as if it had never happened...
Read more

In March 1948, 11-year-old Florence "Sally" Horner shoplifted a five-cent notebook from a Woolworth's in Camden

Image
 In March 1948, 11-year-old Florence "Sally" Horner shoplifted a five-cent notebook from a Woolworth's in Camden, New Jersey, on a dare to join a girls' club at school. As she left, a man grabbed her arm and told her he was an FBI agent. In reality, he was Frank La Salle, a 50-year-old convicted child molester. He told Sally she needed to periodically "check in" with him or he would tell her mother and send her to prison. In June 1948, La Salle intercepted Sally on her way home from school and forced her to call her mother, claiming she was going on a weeklong beach trip with a friend's family. Instead, he took her to Atlantic City and held her captive for 21 months, moving her from Baltimore to Dallas to San Jose, sexually assaulting her repeatedly while posing as her father. In March 1950, Sally finally managed to call home from California. She was rescued on March 31, 1950, and reunited with her mother and sister at Philadelphia International Airpo...
Read more

When hatred turn to poison what can human being do to another

Image
When hatred turn to poison what can human being do to another  So that we never forget what man is capable of. September 1941, on the outskirts of Kyiv. In just two days, inside a ravine called Babi Yar, one of the fastest and most brutal massacres of the Holocaust unfolded. After the Nazi occupation of the city, Jewish residents were ordered to report with their identification papers and suitcases. Many believed they were being deported. They were wrong. It was a carefully planned trap. On September 29 and 30, nearly 34,000 men, women, and children were marched to the edge of the ravine. There, the Einsatzgruppen—mobile Nazi killing units—assisted by local collaborators, forced them to undress. Family after family was lined up and shot. Their bodies fell into the ravine, piling layer upon layer, until the earth itself seemed to disappear beneath them. There were no gas chambers. No concentration camps. Only rifles, ammunition, and silence. Babi Yar was not an exception. It was par...
Read more

Imagine being 14 years old and slowly realizing the adult you trusted has trapped you in a life you can’t escape that you met at school

Image
Imagine being 14 years old and slowly realizing the adult you trusted has trapped you in a life you can’t escape that you met at school ? That’s what happened to Tanya Nicole Kach-McCrum. Tanya was born October 14, 1981, near Pittsburgh. By age 14, her life was already heavy. Her parents divorced, her dad gained custody, and Tanya moved in with him and his girlfriend in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. She started a new middle school and struggled badly. She was bullied, isolated, and deeply unhappy. Home wasn’t easy either. Arguments were frequent, and Tanya ran away several times, though she always came back. Each time, police were called. At school, there was one adult who seemed to care. That man was 38 year old Thomas Hose, a school security guard. His job was to keep kids safe. Instead, he groomed one. He would pull Tanya out of class to “talk.” He listened. He made her feel protected. Over time, he crossed serious boundaries and convinced her that leaving her family and starting...
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

MY 16-YEAR-OLD SON WENT TO STAY WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER FOR THE SUMMER – ONE DAY

Image
MY 16-YEAR-OLD SON WENT TO STAY WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER FOR THE SUMMER – ONE DAY, I GOT A CALL FROM HER, AND HER FIRST WORDS WERE, "PLEASE, SAVE ME FROM HIM!" So, for the first time ever, my son actually asked to spend the summer with my mom — all by himself! This was a huge surprise, given that he's usually not interested in going to her place or spending time in her small town. My mom is disabled, and I pay for a caregiver to help her every day. She refuses to live with us or move into a senior home. My son even offered to take care of her himself, saying I could give the caregiver a break. "Maybe he's finally becoming responsible?" I thought. The first week went fine, and he was sweet on the phone, but I noticed that anytime I asked to speak with my mom, he'd say she was busy or asleep. Then came the scary part. I got a call from my son's number — but it was my mom's voice whispering, "Please, come save me from him!" be...
Read more

If your dog is sniffing your genital area, it means you have

Image
As an animal owner, it is your responsibility to feed and take care of them. Part of being a good hooman to your pet is knowing ways to communicate with them and knowing why your pet behaves in a particular way. There are people who know reasons why their dogs smell their private areas, but also some people aren’t yet aware what this behaviour pertains. The reason behind dogs sniffing behaviour according to a site named Master Bowie, “is gathering information and saying hello. We have sweat glands, apocrine glands to be precise, which release pheromones that convey all different types of information (eg. age, sex, mood, health). These glands are heavily concentrated in the armpits and genitals. Well… since they can’t reach the armpits, so crotch it is…”. Dogs cannot speak so they have their own ways. Your dog is just trying to know you, but if you’re embarrassed with this innate behaviour, you can redirect it by training your dog; giving treats and saying...
Read more

This historic photo has never been edited – have a closer look and try not to gasp when you see it

Image
This historic photo has never been edited – have a closer look and try not to gasp when you see it 😲  Looking back at old Oscars photos, especially from the 1970s, gives me a nostalgic feeling. There’s something almost haunting about those pictures — they bring back memories of a different time, a different America, when the Academy Awards felt truly exciting. Back then, our celebrities had a sense of class, glamour, beauty, and elegance. It’s surprising to see so many amazing stars who are no longer with us, reminding us how short life really is. I used to know every nominee, every movie, and every song. Now, it’s hard for me to keep up. Someone once said the 1975 Oscars were “back when actors and actresses had class and no political agenda.” While that might not be completely true, it does feel like we’ve lost something important over time. Let’s take a look back at the 47th Academy Awards and focus on a particular photo that has sparked lots of discussion recently. What ...
Read more

She ran him over twice, stepped out of her car, knelt beside him, kissed him — and then st*bbd him nine times

Image
She ran him over twice, stepped out of her car, knelt beside him, kissed him — and then st*bbd him nine times. On May 3, 2024, 20-year-old Karon Fisher fatally attacked 64-year-old Steven Anderson outside his home in Houston, Texas. Anderson had just walked outside to collect his mail when Fisher’s vehicle struck him. Instead of stopping, Fisher reversed, hit him again, and then got out of the car. What followed was captured on a neighbor’s security camera — Fisher straddled Anderson’s body, kissed him, and repeatedly st*bbd him. Witnesses rushed out, one bringing a pillow to try to help the victim, but it was too late. Anderson, a retired manager at a cancer center, was described by neighbors as kind, gentle, and deeply loved in his community. Fisher was arrested the same day and charged with m*rder. Her bond was initially set at $2 million. Later that day, while under evaluation at a hospital, Fisher allegedly assaulted a staff member — and later bit a jailer while in c...
Read more

“The Forgotten Photograph: A Glimpse Into the Shadows of Nazi Cruelty”

Image
 🔺🚨❗ Viewer Discretion Advised: Historical Content — For Awareness and Remembrance  “The Forgotten Photograph: A Glimpse Into the Shadows of Nazi Cruelty” It was an image buried for decades — a photograph taken during the Second World War that would later send chills down the spines of historians. At first glance, it showed what seemed to be a simple scene of prisoners and guards. But behind the frame lay an unspoken story of suffering, courage, and the inhumanity that scarred an entire generation. When experts re-examined it nearly 80 years later, they realized its true value wasn’t in the mystery of the faces, but in what it revealed about history itself — the cold precision of the Nazi regime’s cruelty, the dehumanization of prisoners, and the silent endurance of those trapped in unimaginable circumstances. Historians confirmed that many such photographs, once thought to be propaganda or staged, actually documented moments before or after interrogations at c...
Read more

I LET A HOMELESS WOMAN STAY IN MY GARAGE – ONE DAY, I WALKED IN WITHOUT KNOCKING

Image
  I LET A HOMELESS WOMAN STAY IN MY GARAGE – ONE DAY, I WALKED IN WITHOUT KNOCKING I'm 61, a millionaire by inheritance, but despite the wealth, my life felt empty. My parents died when I was 20, leaving me with a luxurious estate but no one to share it with. Women came and went, but I always felt they were after my money, so I never built a family. One day, I saw a fragile woman rummaging through garbage. Despite her situation, her eyes held resilience. Compassion hit me. I approached her gently. "Can I help you?" She hesitated but introduced herself as Lexi, explaining how her husband left her for a pregnant mistress, ruining her career and leaving her homeless. Without hesitation, I offered her a place in my garage, which was spacious and well-equipped. Lexi couldn't believe her luck. Then, one afternoon, I was in a rush to grab a pump from the garage. During the day, Lexi usually went out, so I didn't bother knocking. But as I swung the door open, I...
Read more

Wild Snake “Begged” Me For Some Water. When Animal Control Realizes Why, They Say, “You Got Lucky

Image
 I thought it was just thirsty—until I saw the truth. Wild Snake “Begged” Me For Some Water. When Animal Control Realizes Why, They Say, “You Got Lucky!” Jake’s peaceful day at the lake took a strange turn when a black snake slithered up to him. At first, he thought it was just curious—but its calm, almost pleading behavior was unlike anything he’d seen before. Instead of retreating, the snake stayed close. Moved by instinct, Jake offered it a glass of water. To his shock, it drank. Unnerved but curious, Jake called animal control. When officer Mark arrived, his serious expression told Jake this wasn’t routine. “Snakes don’t usually act like this,” Mark warned, keeping a close eye on the animal. “It could be sick, or something else is going on.” Jake, still puzzled, noted, “It’s not attacking.” But Mark remained firm. “That doesn’t matter. Best to stay cautious.” They backed away, observing the snake from a safe distance. The atmosphere grew tense. Jake couldn’t shake th...
Read more

In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio.

Image
In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio. She was wearing a buckskin poncho, so investigators called her the "Buckskin Girl." That same day, her body was examined. It was found that she had suffered serious injuries to her head and neck before being strangled to death about 48 hours before her body was found. Despite many years of hard work by investigators, the identity of the Buckskin Girl remained unknown for over 30 years. On April 9, 2018, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory announced that they had identified the woman as 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King from Little Rock, Arkansas. Marcia had last been seen by her family in 1980. Although she wasn’t officially reported missing, her family had kept searching for her. The identification was made possible by detailed DNA testing. Sadly, the person who caused her death has still not been found.
Read more

An American named Steve McNeld posted a photo of himself with his grandmother in a coffin

Image
An American named Steve McNeld posted a photo of himself with his grandmother in a coffin, happy about her death because he would inherit $900,000 from her. However, after the funeral, he was surprised to find that she had donated her entire fortune to charity and left him a note saying, "My little dog, Steve... I left you your grandfather's crutch and my dentures in my closet. I hope your feet wear out and your teeth fall out so you can benefit from them. Get them before the new owners come home!!!
Read more

September 1941, on the outskirts of Kyiv. In just two days, inside a ravine called Babi Yar, one of the fastest and most brutal massacres of the Holocaust unfolded.

Image
 When hatred turn to poison what can human being do to another  So that we never forget what man is capable of. September 1941, on the outskirts of Kyiv. In just two days, inside a ravine called Babi Yar, one of the fastest and most brutal massacres of the Holocaust unfolded. After the Nazi occupation of the city, Jewish residents were ordered to report with their identification papers and suitcases. Many believed they were being deported. They were wrong. It was a carefully planned trap. On September 29 and 30, nearly 34,000 men, women, and children were marched to the edge of the ravine. There, the Einsatzgruppen—mobile Nazi killing units—assisted by local collaborators, forced them to undress. Family after family was lined up and shot. Their bodies fell into the ravine, piling layer upon layer, until the earth itself seemed to disappear beneath them. There were no gas chambers. No concentration camps. Only rifles, ammunition, and silence. Babi Yar was not an ...
Read more