I’m heading north again April 10th (and hope to take spring north with me). That’s one benefit of spending October to April in Mississippi—a l-o-n-g spring, summer, and fall, and a far shorter winter than Minnesotans have.
I love my Mississippi friends and neighbors but also miss my family and the Amish families around our Minnesota farm. Both my grandkids, and the neighbors’ kids, grow like weeds when I’m gone.
I love seeing the Amish kids pass our place on their way to school. They watch for me, and I for them, like clockwork. I hear their horse’s hooves clip clop before the kids lean out of their buggies to wave every time.
One buggy’s driver is Melvin, the twelve-year-old son of our Amish fence builder. Before the dad finished the fence, part of my exercise was to chase our sturdy yearling bull calves home any time they broke out. For months, voice commands worked. But as they grew, they began challenging my authority.
I’m not sure what happened—if it was too bright and early that day. Or I didn’t get a good look at the shaggy monster busting through barbed wire. I assumed it was a yearling bull as I walked forward giving voice commands.
Melvin read the situation. It wasn’t a yearling. Our full-grown massive bull, weighing nearly a ton, rushed toward me.
Melvin jumped in front of me, raising a hand. He’s not tall, but there was nothing small about his authority.
The bull braked to a stop. Melvin’s hand and calm words turned the beast around. It snapped more wires reentering the fence.
That twelve-year-old saved me. We now have a close bond. I gave him my children’s books. After I harvest fall apples, Melvin scrambles up our trees to pick those I can’t reach and his mom makes applesauce, crisps, and pies. I bring him and his six siblings mangoes, papayas, star and kiwi fruit and explain how to eat them. When I left last fall, Melvin asked which day I’d be back. I’m looking forward to seeing him and his family.
What’s your favorite thing about the neighborhood you live in? What do you miss most whenever you’re away?
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