Another Day

They get easier from here. For the past several months, and for years and years, Saturday was when my dad saw his parents. As far back as I can remember, he went to the farm on Saturday. The farm is land he and my mom bought which is adjacent to, and was part of, his family's land. His parents lived on their part of the farm. I don't have any memories of a working farm (other than a large garden), but at one time, the farm was a large working farm which helped support my grandparents. Saturdays, my dad would go out there and drive the tractor around, doing whatever. After his parents were unable to live out there and had to be put in a nursing home, he continued to work on Saturdays, and we'd visit them on Sundays. A few months ago, he and his sister switched days so that we would usually go on Saturdays to visit them. Today, for the first time, he didn't have anyone to visit on Saturday.

My cousin, his nephew, came out to the farm this morning to deer hunt a little, then my dad and I drove around and spent some time together. We went to the Honda store in Southaven to look at fourwheelers. We have one in like-new condition, but there have been some significant engineering changes to the new models that we wanted to see. While in Southaven we looked for a place he'd been to that sells bedliners for trucks, because I want one for my Colorado. The place had either been sold or moved because it wasn't where it had been 3 or 4 years ago. We ate at Backyard Burgers and watched a little bit of Patton on TV, too.

They get easier from here.

Patton: Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight - wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and never will lose a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

More tomorrow.