I hate divorce!

I have had my fair share of this! And now that my mom and step-dad are going through, makes me hate it that much more. I have spent the last several months with mom trying to get through some of her stuff. Yesterday I spent the day with a land appraiser going over all of the land involved. Sad time for me. See, my real dad past away when i was 7 years old. Joe Gayle had been my "dad" for most of my life. The last 35 years to be exact. And Quanah was home. A place fort me to "go to" to remember, to get away. A safe place for me to unwind and enjoy. Mom has spent all those years in one house. The house we moved into when they got married. My home! Every since all this broke lose with mom, it just hasn't been the same going back. The memories now are bitter-sweet. As I was riding around with the appraiser, memories kept flashing back. Growing up in that house. Helping out on the farm. All the places and land we farmed. The good times. Summer wheat harvest with Jim, Shellie, Carol and I. The moving of irrigation pipe. Watching a crop grow form seed to harvest. Some were good and some not so good, the harvest that is. Those of you not involved in production agriculture need to understand. The hard work, the reward of your year long labor. Just stop and think about that. Used to the financial side of it was not as critical as it is now. The margins are so thin these days. One stump of your toe and it's all gone.

I want to keep this as positive as I can. A time for reflection and sharing.

When I was 9 years old, Joe Gayle was dating my mom. He was divorced, had custody of his 2 boys and the thought of having 2 new brothers was exciting. He drove a Ford pickup just like my dad. He farmed just like my dad. But, just before he proposed to mom, he had a wreck during cotton harvest and totalled out his pickup. Back in those days, the inventory of new vehicles was not all that good. Plus the time he had to find one during harvest was slim. He looked for a ford and couldn't find one like he needed so it was Chevy time. I will never forget when he showed up in that maroon 1973 model pickup at our house. I thought "oh no! a chevy?". I can still remember when he called one night, asking me and Shellie if you could marry mom. I can remember my response like it was yesterday. "You gotta get rid of that chevy!" He told me he would as soon as he could, and less than a year later, he had a new ford.

He taught me how to drive a tractor. Taught me how to work (more like made me work! LOL!). I hated driving a combine. I was a better mechanic than a combine operator. So when we were freshman, he hired Carol Martin to drive the combine along with me sister Shellie. Jim and I took care of the hauling to the elevator (without a drivers license I might add!) and keeping the machines running. Carol came and lived with us for wheat harvest every year after that till we all got out of high school. Good times!!!

Oh yeah!!! I almost forgot!! God's still answering prayers!!! My friends test yesterday came back negative! Benign knots! Nothing more till next year!!! Ain't He great!!!