August 27th

August 27th

By John W. Vander Velden

There are those dates that, for whatever reason, are etched into our soul. The month of August has two of those days.  Today is one of them.

So in the crazy busyness of today I take a moment to remember.  Remembering is a good thing…usually.  It honors those who touched our lives but have moved on to better things.  But darkness’ shadow passes over me today once again.  Just a few minutes…just a few.  It is all I will allow myself.  I am surrounded by sunshine and will not dwell long within the shadow.  I push myself to happier memories…effort needed…effort worthwhile.  I allow the shadow to pass over me like the shade of a summer’s cloud.  I have seen it come…I know it will pass…and I remember…wounded once again but not weakened…much.

Mom would have been the last person on earth to admit that she lived an amazing life.  It was not like her to notice…she had things to do.  She didn’t notice things like that.  She noticed the dust that had dared to settle in her living room.  She noticed the weeds that invaded her garden.  She noticed the sniffles of her children…even when they were full grown.  She never noticed how old she had become…never…well almost never.

So I celebrate the life of Nel Vander Velden…and I remember.  And all of you that knew her she was just mom…and that was enough...

 

8-27-2016

Thinkin' About August

Thinkin’ About August

 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

August is one of those months that seem to pass unnoticed.  That is if you don’t have kids going back to school…or college…or are a student yourself...or are a teacher for that matter.  Then August is one of those REALLY important months.  But growing up we didn’t start classes until September…in college mid-September. 

But August is no less important that the other eleven months.  It holds its unique place in the calendar with summer’s closing.  Some of the hottest days of the year usually fall in August.  Dog days they are called.  But the days are growing shorter and the mornings carry a bit more mist than June and July.  The spider’s webs sparkle with dew on clear mornings.  The corn has reached its full height, dark green with swelling ears.  Signs that the year reaches toward autumn.  August tell us yes, fall is on the way…but not here yet, summer is very much alive.  

August for most is a bit more laid back, a month with no national holidays, a time that may contain leisurely end of summer vacation escapes, a time to slow down. For me the month is a time to evaluate the possible success of the year’s crop.  Time spent stripping ears and peering into rows of tall soybean plants…wondering if the harvest will be good.  It is a time to mentally prepare for the next big season…and the completion of another crop year.  It is a time for getting the equipment rearranged and ready.  I spend time mowing fencerows and farm lots, worrying about new flush of weeds invisible only days before.  There are always things to do and usually more than time allows.  But busy is better than the alternative, not that I wouldn’t enjoy leisure. But I see leisure as choosing to be less busy, which is a far cry from not having things to do. 

August remind me of change.  The changing seasons.  The changing year.  But most of all I am reminded of the changes in life.  A great many have occurred in August’s past.  I try not to dwell on the dark changes that have come in summer’s years ago, doing my best to focus on the positive.  Not always easy but worth the effort. Changes are as much a part of life as anything.  And though I, personally, resist change, I must acknowledge that change is a good thing…mostly.  Perhaps I should tell myself that that truth more often.  It could make me more flexible.  There’s a time to be an Oak and a time to be a Willow…if you get my meaning. 

So I hope you enjoy these last days of August.  Take each as it is.  Make the most out of each and every one of them.  Change is a commin’.  The summer will not go on till December.  But it’s August and there’s plenty of summer left…providing you grasp each moment.  For each day is unique…even in late August… 

(501 Words)  8-25-2016

The Book of Lasts

 

 

The Book of Lasts

 

By John w. Vander Velden    

 

It seems that first times get all the credit.  A good example is the book kept by new parents.  First words, first foods, first tooth, first steps, important milestones of their child’s development.  And it doesn’t stop there.  No, we always remember the firsts in our life.  The first day of school, our first bicycle, the first time we drove, and on and on. They are important. Firsts are about beginnings, and beginnings are positive.  Its endings we have trouble with.

For me this year has many things I would place in my book of lasts.  A mental record of when changes occur in my life.  As I approach the end of my farming career, I understand that things will change…and I hope that those changes will be for the better.  All spring it has been on my mind that this, my 45^th, will be my last crop.  When I began this part of my journey I would never have imagined reaching this milestone.  Not that I doubted I would live long enough, but rather could not imagine my life with out the tasks that has filled my days all these years.  But now as I stand on the threshold and go through the preparations of closing that door, I take a moment to consider the lasts, the last tillage, the last planting, the last…all of it.  Hmmmm….

         I will not say that I’ll miss fighting with cantankerous anhydrous applicators or wondering when it will or will not rain, but I do not regret the years when things like that made up so much of my life.  No, there was a time for those tasks and I must acknowledge that time is ending.  Even today farming is very physical and I accept my fading strength.  But life is about changes, and constants are not really…constant…are they?  Moving forward means…moving. 

But the book of lasts is not the only record I keep.  For all through my life I have kept note of firsts.  With the closing of this chapter I anticipate adding to that list.  Before me is a very busy schedule, so many things I hope to achieve. As long as I have breath, there will be firsts before me. I plan to set out in new directions for lasts and first go hand in hand.

So next year when I look over another man’s crops growing on my farm, I will understand that it is not a symbol of my labor, my worries, my limited talents.  Those plants will remind me of all my years, of all my experiences, all my successes and disappointments.  I will remember that first year I farmed and all those firsts long past, and consider the first that lie before and not dwell on my book of lasts.   

 

(467 Words)         8-15-2016

Milkweed

Milkweed

By John W. Vander Velden             

 

For many years I have dealt with an adversary most stubborn…the milkweed.  Those that work the land, those that hope to earn even modest sustenance as they labor between rows and beneath the sun, annoyed by the plants uninvited to our fields.  Called weeds, we continually battle, wishing only plants of our choosing to occupy our land.  And particularly death to that greasy plant with its slimy milk white sap.

However there is another view which needs exposure.  For large green caterpillars feed upon the milkweeds broad leaves.  I am certain the weed finds no pleasure as it is eaten by what it would certainly consider vermin.  Though we farmers have strong opinions about weeds and insects, we can find humor in the fact that a weed that causes us such pain can be eaten away by a worm which devours nothing else…the milkweed caterpillar.  However this creature could not exist if the weed did not.

Perhaps you have forgotten, easily done, but that worm, that milkweed caterpillar, that ugly, gross worm becomes the Monarch Butterfly, a magnificent beauty of brilliant orange and black which flutters about our homes and lawns, bringing joy to all.  Children seek to capture, while adults watch spellbound as with powerful wings it flits about.  Certainly our world would be blander without the royal winged joy.

When I was in first grade we gathered the parakeet shaped milkweed seed pods.  On these we painted.  Eyes, beak and feathers…crudely to be sure, with clumsy untrained ambitious hands.  Yet many times throughout my life I have seen those very pods split open, watching the seeds flying on silken wings carried by autumn’s winds.  Surely many of those flying wonders landed unfortunately upon tilled land, next year’s pain.

Seldom do we take the time to consider things as insignificant as seed carried aloft far and away.  Rarely do we notice the connection…between joy and pain…between nuisance…and beauty.

Though we have for generations done our very best to annihilate the milkweed yet it persists.  Burdened by chemicals and hoe, eaten by a pest of its own, yet, out of persistence and cleverness, the weed endures.  There is much we can learn from the…Milkweed!

 

(369 Words)

 

It's About Attitude

It’s About Attitude

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Though I believe that time is a teacher, I know that I must be open to learn the lessons that life offers.  Life is ever-changing.  It is up to me to get the most out of each moment.  You see, it is about attitude.  Jackie will tell you that I do not always have the best attitude…but I try.  Trying may not be enough but it’s my best shot.  Over the years I have faced disappointments and challenges along with some pain.  I know that my problems have been less than those faced by others.  But like everyone, my problems are my problems, and they seem the most important problems, when I face them.  Those days place a damper on my moods.  Times I wear the world on my sleeve, but most times I carry the weight hidden.  Those are the days I must remind myself once again…it’s all about attitude.  And it is! 

Few know about the darkest days I have faced.  Few need to be bothered by knowing.  This post isn’t about dealing with that darkness, but rather recognizing that dawn follows the night.  Wait for it.  It’s comin’. This post is about the gift each of us is given…today!  Twenty- four non-repeating hours.  Fourteen hundred forty unique one time minutes.  Rising in the morning I remind myself of this grand offering placed before me…a new day…and the possibilities that lie at my feet.  Get up and go John.  There’s things to get done. The day’s closing may find me disappointed in what I have managed to accomplish, but if I have given it my best…well that’ll have to do…and more…it was enough. 

It is about attitude.  God has given me today.  Hopefully I accept that gift with gratitude…make the most I can out of it…and not insult the Giver.   

(311 Words)                8-11-2016

Skins

Skins

 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

It seems that each of us look no deeper than the surface.  That we notice the “skin” but never consider the essence within.  It is like when we see a beautiful lake.  We stand in awe of the sparkling water as it lies before us, unaware of the worlds that are so near but out of sight.  We feel content…even overjoyed at the rippling wavelets sparkling beneath the sky and give no thought to all the fish, frogs, and all the life unseen within universes invisible to us.  What is worse we are content with the “skins” we observe.  But things are much more than surface “skins”, and everyone is much more than they appear.  

Too easy we take first impressions and outside appearances to form our understanding of someone.  Too easy we allow past situations to define future possibilities.  We see only “skins” and believe there is nothing more.  But would we want to be forever condemned by our own history.  No!  For just as a house is more than the shade of paint smeared on its surface, each person is so much more than “skin”.  Shouldn’t we remember that everyone has much in common?  That each, though unique, share many of the same wants and desires.  Do not each of us have dreams, hopes and aspirations for the future?  Do we not love our children?  Have we not concerns for our health and community? Can we not laugh…and cry?  If any are pricked will they not bleed?  For the world is filled with…people…all different…yet the same.

Should we not look deeper?  See beneath the surface.  For isn’t the surface…just that…the surface.  Should we not take the time to see deeper?  Take time to understand, to be open, really open to a world beneath, be it situations, organizations, but especially people.  Let us take the effort to try to understand…to see deeper than “skins”.  

(321 Words)         8-2-2016