For both Kate and I, this new school year brought changes. Kate would be giving up cross country for good. Her leg just couldn't take the constant running. She really missed the meets and practices but resigned herself to the fact and was looking forward to other things. I missed tearing all over those green grassy hills on the golf courses, but I had decided that if Kate couldn't go, I wouldn't.
As for me, I had to say goodbye to my Tommy. Yes, they decided that it would be best for both Tommy and myself if someone new would come into his little life. The principal asked me to stay on as a teachers aid in both first grade classes and I agreed to do so. So as Kate and I prepared ourselves for the first day back to school, my mind went to that hot day in May of last year when Tommy and I said our good bye's.
The grade school had their "fun day" the last day of school. All the students went out to the track and there was a full day of track and fun. It was hot with the sun beating down on us. All day we watched and hollered and cheered as little children raced against each other, seeing each one give their very best effort. There were gunny sac races and lots of other exciting events. Moms and dads were there to watch their special student participate.
At noon each student received a sack lunch and we ate it hurriedly excited to once again get out to the hot track. As I walked to the car after all the buses had gone, I was tired, sunburned, and could hardly talk. I made my way slowly home and into the house, dropped my purse on the nearest chair, kicked off my shoes, and flopped onto the couch.
What was that? The phone? Something had woke me. There it was again. I finally decided it was the back door bell. As I scrambled to my feet, I saw a car drive out of the drive way and head west. I made my way to the back door and opened it. There just outside the screen door sat a little package wrapped in white paper. On top was a beautiful white bow. I picked it up and carried it to the couch.
There inside all wrapped in thin paper was a beautiful little white ceramic angel. Beside it was a card with Tommy's handwriting. It said "Dear Mrs Beck, You have been my guardian angel for two years and I love you. Thank you for everything you did for me. Love Tommy." I just sat there for a long time holding that little ceramic angel and thinking of Tommy and our years together. Wiping away a tear, I slowly got up and walked to the piano and placed that little angel there.
"I'm ready mom," came Kate's voice bringing me back to reality. "I really need to drive myself. I need to talk with Mr. Anderson after school about my forensics project and should run to the home ec room if there is time to discuss something with Mrs, Garrison about FCCLA. Do you mind?"
"No that's fine. You go ahead, The only thing is that I wish you would explain FCCLA to me sometime!"
"It's basically the same thing as FHA! But I'll tell you more later. Remind me tonight at supper." With that she was out the back door and in her red Buick and down the road.
It was a busy first day of school. There were supplies to put away, papers to copy for the teachers, recess duty, and don't forget the hugs! It would be a good year I was sure of it. It was hard to believe Kate was a junior already. Her schedule was full. Somehow she always managed to be in everything there was to be in, plus her subjects were things like calculus, speech, chemistry, and journalism.
That night over supper, I cornered Kate, "Okay, why is FHA now FCCLA anyway?"
"Well it stands for Family Career and Community Leaders of America," Kate said taking a bite of pizza. "We do various things from school dances to style shows to business competitions. The competition that we are most involved in is a parliamentary procedure team. Our parlaw team competes with other schools. There are six girls in the group. We try to look business professional in our black suits and heels!" she said taking another bite of pizza.
"Do you enjoy it?" I asked.
"Yeah I do. I love Mrs. G, the sponsor, and everyone involved is a lot of fun too!"
"I know that you sure look nice all dressed up. I'm sure it is a great learning experience. When is the style show?"
"It's in the winter sometime. We are going to model clothes from some of the stores in town."
"Wow! I for sure want to come! Sound really fun! Maybe dad would like to come too?" I chuckled looking at Mark.
"I'm afraid not," was his only answer.
It was somewhere around 10:00 one late September night when the phone rang.
"Wonder who that could be? Maybe Bret?" I asked Mark getting lazily off the couch and walking into the kitchen.
"Hello," I said rather groggily.
"Hello," came young man's voice, "Is Kate around?"
"Oh...yea," I stammered into the phone, being careful not to guess which guy was calling for her this time. "Just a minute and I'll get her."
"Kate!" I hollered, holding my hand over the receiver. "You're wanted on the phone."
"Okay, just a sec," she said and soon she was running up the stairs two at a time.
"Hello?" she said out of breath. "Oh, hi Peter...," and she disappeared into the back bedroom.
"Well, I guess it wasn't Bret," Mark said with a chuckle as I plopped back down beside him.
"No, I'm pretty sure it was that same boy Kate met at the church convention a month ago. He sure sounded nice," I said picking up the comic paper and starting to read.
"How do you know that? You only said hello to him and he only asked for Kate to you."
"Well, Kate has told me about him. He seems to be the perfect guy!"
"I'm ready for bed. How about you?" Mark said getting up and holding his hand out to me.
"Yep let's call it a day. Tomorrow will be another big one."
The next morning Kate came dragging up the steps just in time to sit down for breakfast.
"You appear a bit tired this morning," Mark said as he flipped over a pancake.
"Yeah," was all that came out of her as she sat down heavy on her chair.
"Well, is this serious enough for us to meet this young man?" Mark continued.
"Yeah....he would like to come in a couple weeks if that's okay."
"Oh course," I piped in all excited.
"Could you two help me wean the calves Friday after school? I really would like to get them worked Saturday if possible," Mark said coming to the table with a big plate of pancakes.
"We better tell Lyle. He would love it!" I said sitting down at my place.
Lyle loved horses, the wild west, Willie Nelson music, and John Wayne movies. That is why when a cute little blue house came up for sale in our little "cow town", Mark and I bought it and moved Lyle closer. Early in the morning, and again at noon and around six in the evening, the train would roar into town, blow its whistle a couple long blows and rush out of town, around the bend, and out of sight. Lyle would walk up to the the post office on main street where he had his own little mail box. He worked on that little house, painting the walls, and fixing the floor in the little kitchen. It was special to visit him in the evening after a busy day. We would sit out on the front porch while he would strum his guitar, and sing songs like, "Oh Give Me A Home" and "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine." Sometimes he would move some bales for us, and he loved to help with the cattle.
Lyle's little blue hatchback came slowly creeping down the driveway on that Friday afternoon. He hopped energetically out of his car as he always does, dressed in his wranglers and cowboy hat and said, "I'm ready to wrestle some cows!"
"Oh, Lyle, I love your energy! You make the most boring tasks so much fun!" I said, giving him a hug.
He and I hooked the pickup up to the old red stock trailer and Mark and Kate put the stock racks on the old 63 Ford truck, and we all headed to the south pasture. It was time to bring in the calves for the winter. Mark and I had come over earlier and rounded up all the cattle into the corral so that was why we could hear the cattle before we got up over the hill into the pasture. Mammas do not like this! We parked the pick up along side the corral, and Mark pulled in ahead of us.
Now the fun begins! And it is also a test of Mark and my marriage! Somehow Kate and I are suppose to let the mothers out and keep the calves in! Lyle ambled around the outside of the pen, cigarette in his mouth and a stick in one hand. His job was to keep them out of the corners. Oh I hated this job! Mark opened the corral just wide enough for a cow to fit through and told Kate and I to stand one on both sides and stop the calves if they try to come through. Oh sure! Mark was very calm as he inched himself toward that bunch of cattle. All you could see were back ends. They were trying to get as far away from Mark as possible. Finally he got the attention of one cow and with his stick, turned her and she went a whizzing past us.
"Stop the calves!" Mark hollered as a mother cow came at us along with a couple calves right at her tail.
"Oh great!" was all I could get out but Kate was fast. Somehow she slipped in between that mamma and those calves cutting them off as the mamma went whizzing past us.
"Wow that was good work Kate!" I hollered to her above the sound of mooing.
Lyle let out a big "Yeehaw!" as he was getting in the cowboy spirit!
Slowly, so slowly, with the help of Lyle, we finally had all the bawling mothers on the outside of the pen and the calves on the inside. Now we had to load them onto the truck and trailer. Mark hopped over the pen and into the truck. He backed it up to the loading chute and set the brake. Climbing up over the chute, he lifted up the end gate, placed his pliers in between two rods to hold it up, and walked down the chute into the pen and started to move the calves up and into the truck. Lyle stood on the outside of the chute, giving them an extra push with his stick. All you could hear was bawling, shouting, and banging as the calves made their way up the chute and into the truck. Mark followed the last one up and grabbed his pliers and "bang" down went the gate.
After the trailer was loaded, we had to make a beeline for the pasture gate. Somehow we had to outrun the mothers. They were kicking up quite a fog as they ran behind us. Mark was first . He got to the gate, jumped out, and ran back to the gate. As I made my way through, he danced around there holding back the mothers while Kate brought the gate closed. I really feel sorry for those mothers, but it has to be. We will take really good care of the calves. Besides their "babies" we were taking away were nearly as big as they were! And furthermore, the mommas had a new baby growing inside of them that they needed to take good care of.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Lyle was out early, all excited. We gave shots, and dewormed and tagged the calves. Mark and Kate gave the shots while I filled syringes and handed them to Mark and Kate. I handed the dewormer to Mark and he gave them a couple squirts on the back. Lyle was sure happy and excited when Mark let him get in on the action! He did a mighty good job too.
It was around six when Kate and Lyle rounded up the syringes, vaccine, dewormer and other supplies and headed to the house.
"Be sure to send that leftover roast beef home with Lyle. The small container in the fridge," I said as they got into the pickup. Mark and I were going to put the calves over in the weaning pen and then do the chores.
The next morning, Mark ground up some grain for them and it started three months of chores morning and night. It was always rewarding to Mark to watch them grow. Lyle would help do chores some evenings, by driving the pickup while Mark pitched the hay into the bunks.
As fall tuned to winter the calves settled down and the cows got hauled home. They didn't even remember that two months ago their calves had been taken away! This added more chores, but we were ready for them. Bales had to be put into the round bale feeders and the hay wagon ran morning and night. Either Kate or I would load up grain into five gallon buckets and haul them up to the hill in the pickup. Mark would sprinkle one bucket of grain on top of the hay and those calves would really go to it. They were putting on pounds everyday. The mammas were getting bigger and closer to having a new baby.
It was a cold Friday evening in January. Mark and I were going to go up to the high school to a wrestling match that evening because Kate was expecting her guy friend, whom she had spent hours on the phone with, to come visit that evening! He lived a couple hours away, but was on college break, so he was planning on staying the weekend with us. Kate was so excited to get to see him again! So I figured it would be most appropriate for old mom and dad to get out of the house and let them have some privacy. Besides, how often do you have a "date" with your handsome husband!
Mark came out of the bedroom smelling so clean and looking very nice dressed in his good jeans and button down shirt. "Hun, are you ready to go?" he called out.
"Yep. Just let me get my purse and let Kate know we are leaving," I said running to the living room, grabbing my purse and hollering down at Kate.
"Okay! See you later!" she hollered back up the stairs.
"Could we take the farm pickup for a change?" I asked as we walked to the garage.
"I guess, Why?"
"Oh I don't know. Maybe for old times sake. You remember we would go on dates in your red ford pickup. Kind of romantic I guess."
"Now don't go getting all romantic on me. We are just going to a wrestling match at the school for pete's sake," Mark said opening the garage door.
"I know, but, hey, you asked me to go to a wrestling match! That's special!" I said slipping onto the seat and maybe a little closer to the middle than I do for a trip to the pasture.
The gym was full of moms, dads and people like us who just wanted to see a good wrestling match. Noise, noise and more noise! Like usual, Mark found a "farmer" so we spent most of the time talking about bean prices, cattle prices and the weather. Oh well, I loved to see Mark happy and enjoying himself for once.
It was late when we pulled into the drive and parked in the garage. There were two cars in the drive way so we knew "he" had arrived! The other car belonged to Adam and his brother. Kate had invited them over to see Peter and play some games.
As we walked in the back door, the table was full of games plus Kate had popped some popcorn and the smell filled the kitchen. They were really into it! It was a fast and exciting game so there was people standing up and shouting.
"Hey, we're home!" Mark shouted above the noise.
"Oh hi Mom and Dad. Sorry we were at an exciting part. Mom, this is Peter. This is my Mom and Dad," Kate said sitting back down beside a very handsome young man.
"Hi Peter," Mark and I said in unison. "Did you have a good trip?"
"Yep, I did well after I learned that I was on the wrong road and had to turn around."
"Well that happens to the best of us."
"Did you have a good time at the meet?" Adam asked
"Yeah, we did, It is always fun to go on a date with this man, even if it's a wrestling match and he talks for the two hours with a farmer about the crops and weather," I said giving Mark a squeeze.
After watching the game players for a while, Mark and I were ready to get to bed.
"Man you guys, it's midnight. I need some sleep," Mark said looking at the clock and reaching for my hand. "See you young people in the morning."
I noticed Skitz go streaking out the door but didn't think anything of it until I pulled down the covers and hopped into bed!
I let out a scream and jumped out as fast as I had jumped in.
"What on earth?" Mark said turning around.
"That dumb cat went to the bathroom right in the middle of the mattress! And it's not poo, it's pee!" I said pulling back the covers to reveal a huge wet spot.
"Well guess where we get to sleep tonight?" Mark answered
"I would guess we get to play "camp out" on the floor" I said going to the closet for more blankets.
"I think you're right," Mark said as he snuggled in beside me. "Now isn't this fun!" he laughed as we laid there on the floor beside the bed.
The week end went by fast. There were sad good bye's on Sunday evening as Peter left to go back to college. Kate headed to the basement to do homework and Mark and I sat on the couch really doing nothing.
"I hope Peter is driving safe," I said after awhile "I'm sure he is tired."
"I'm sure he will be fine. In college you don't always get a good night's sleep," Mark said as he rubbed my feet.
"It sure seems quiet around here. Too quiet. I really miss him. He's a great kid," I said changing feet hoping Mark would take the hint and rub this one too.
"I learned one major lesson this weekend! Do you want to hear it?" I asked Mark.
"What was that?"
"With new courting going on in the house, you learn to clear your throat really loud before you go to the basement for some frozen corn! If you don't, you may witness a kiss or two!"
"Well welcome to motherhood and teenagers in the house," Mark said putting my foot down and standing up. "Let's hit the hay. I have to be up early tomorrow. Got to be at the ASC office at nine."
After that visit, there were a lot of phone conversations going on into the night. It made me happy to know that Kate was so happy.
As for me, I had to say goodbye to my Tommy. Yes, they decided that it would be best for both Tommy and myself if someone new would come into his little life. The principal asked me to stay on as a teachers aid in both first grade classes and I agreed to do so. So as Kate and I prepared ourselves for the first day back to school, my mind went to that hot day in May of last year when Tommy and I said our good bye's.
The grade school had their "fun day" the last day of school. All the students went out to the track and there was a full day of track and fun. It was hot with the sun beating down on us. All day we watched and hollered and cheered as little children raced against each other, seeing each one give their very best effort. There were gunny sac races and lots of other exciting events. Moms and dads were there to watch their special student participate.
At noon each student received a sack lunch and we ate it hurriedly excited to once again get out to the hot track. As I walked to the car after all the buses had gone, I was tired, sunburned, and could hardly talk. I made my way slowly home and into the house, dropped my purse on the nearest chair, kicked off my shoes, and flopped onto the couch.
What was that? The phone? Something had woke me. There it was again. I finally decided it was the back door bell. As I scrambled to my feet, I saw a car drive out of the drive way and head west. I made my way to the back door and opened it. There just outside the screen door sat a little package wrapped in white paper. On top was a beautiful white bow. I picked it up and carried it to the couch.
There inside all wrapped in thin paper was a beautiful little white ceramic angel. Beside it was a card with Tommy's handwriting. It said "Dear Mrs Beck, You have been my guardian angel for two years and I love you. Thank you for everything you did for me. Love Tommy." I just sat there for a long time holding that little ceramic angel and thinking of Tommy and our years together. Wiping away a tear, I slowly got up and walked to the piano and placed that little angel there.
"I'm ready mom," came Kate's voice bringing me back to reality. "I really need to drive myself. I need to talk with Mr. Anderson after school about my forensics project and should run to the home ec room if there is time to discuss something with Mrs, Garrison about FCCLA. Do you mind?"
"No that's fine. You go ahead, The only thing is that I wish you would explain FCCLA to me sometime!"
"It's basically the same thing as FHA! But I'll tell you more later. Remind me tonight at supper." With that she was out the back door and in her red Buick and down the road.
It was a busy first day of school. There were supplies to put away, papers to copy for the teachers, recess duty, and don't forget the hugs! It would be a good year I was sure of it. It was hard to believe Kate was a junior already. Her schedule was full. Somehow she always managed to be in everything there was to be in, plus her subjects were things like calculus, speech, chemistry, and journalism.
That night over supper, I cornered Kate, "Okay, why is FHA now FCCLA anyway?"
"Well it stands for Family Career and Community Leaders of America," Kate said taking a bite of pizza. "We do various things from school dances to style shows to business competitions. The competition that we are most involved in is a parliamentary procedure team. Our parlaw team competes with other schools. There are six girls in the group. We try to look business professional in our black suits and heels!" she said taking another bite of pizza.
"Do you enjoy it?" I asked.
"Yeah I do. I love Mrs. G, the sponsor, and everyone involved is a lot of fun too!"
"I know that you sure look nice all dressed up. I'm sure it is a great learning experience. When is the style show?"
"It's in the winter sometime. We are going to model clothes from some of the stores in town."
"Wow! I for sure want to come! Sound really fun! Maybe dad would like to come too?" I chuckled looking at Mark.
"I'm afraid not," was his only answer.
It was somewhere around 10:00 one late September night when the phone rang.
"Wonder who that could be? Maybe Bret?" I asked Mark getting lazily off the couch and walking into the kitchen.
"Hello," I said rather groggily.
"Hello," came young man's voice, "Is Kate around?"
"Oh...yea," I stammered into the phone, being careful not to guess which guy was calling for her this time. "Just a minute and I'll get her."
"Kate!" I hollered, holding my hand over the receiver. "You're wanted on the phone."
"Okay, just a sec," she said and soon she was running up the stairs two at a time.
"Hello?" she said out of breath. "Oh, hi Peter...," and she disappeared into the back bedroom.
"Well, I guess it wasn't Bret," Mark said with a chuckle as I plopped back down beside him.
"No, I'm pretty sure it was that same boy Kate met at the church convention a month ago. He sure sounded nice," I said picking up the comic paper and starting to read.
"How do you know that? You only said hello to him and he only asked for Kate to you."
"Well, Kate has told me about him. He seems to be the perfect guy!"
"I'm ready for bed. How about you?" Mark said getting up and holding his hand out to me.
"Yep let's call it a day. Tomorrow will be another big one."
The next morning Kate came dragging up the steps just in time to sit down for breakfast.
"You appear a bit tired this morning," Mark said as he flipped over a pancake.
"Yeah," was all that came out of her as she sat down heavy on her chair.
"Well, is this serious enough for us to meet this young man?" Mark continued.
"Yeah....he would like to come in a couple weeks if that's okay."
"Oh course," I piped in all excited.
"Could you two help me wean the calves Friday after school? I really would like to get them worked Saturday if possible," Mark said coming to the table with a big plate of pancakes.
"We better tell Lyle. He would love it!" I said sitting down at my place.
Lyle loved horses, the wild west, Willie Nelson music, and John Wayne movies. That is why when a cute little blue house came up for sale in our little "cow town", Mark and I bought it and moved Lyle closer. Early in the morning, and again at noon and around six in the evening, the train would roar into town, blow its whistle a couple long blows and rush out of town, around the bend, and out of sight. Lyle would walk up to the the post office on main street where he had his own little mail box. He worked on that little house, painting the walls, and fixing the floor in the little kitchen. It was special to visit him in the evening after a busy day. We would sit out on the front porch while he would strum his guitar, and sing songs like, "Oh Give Me A Home" and "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine." Sometimes he would move some bales for us, and he loved to help with the cattle.
Lyle's little blue hatchback came slowly creeping down the driveway on that Friday afternoon. He hopped energetically out of his car as he always does, dressed in his wranglers and cowboy hat and said, "I'm ready to wrestle some cows!"
"Oh, Lyle, I love your energy! You make the most boring tasks so much fun!" I said, giving him a hug.
He and I hooked the pickup up to the old red stock trailer and Mark and Kate put the stock racks on the old 63 Ford truck, and we all headed to the south pasture. It was time to bring in the calves for the winter. Mark and I had come over earlier and rounded up all the cattle into the corral so that was why we could hear the cattle before we got up over the hill into the pasture. Mammas do not like this! We parked the pick up along side the corral, and Mark pulled in ahead of us.
Now the fun begins! And it is also a test of Mark and my marriage! Somehow Kate and I are suppose to let the mothers out and keep the calves in! Lyle ambled around the outside of the pen, cigarette in his mouth and a stick in one hand. His job was to keep them out of the corners. Oh I hated this job! Mark opened the corral just wide enough for a cow to fit through and told Kate and I to stand one on both sides and stop the calves if they try to come through. Oh sure! Mark was very calm as he inched himself toward that bunch of cattle. All you could see were back ends. They were trying to get as far away from Mark as possible. Finally he got the attention of one cow and with his stick, turned her and she went a whizzing past us.
"Stop the calves!" Mark hollered as a mother cow came at us along with a couple calves right at her tail.
"Oh great!" was all I could get out but Kate was fast. Somehow she slipped in between that mamma and those calves cutting them off as the mamma went whizzing past us.
"Wow that was good work Kate!" I hollered to her above the sound of mooing.
Lyle let out a big "Yeehaw!" as he was getting in the cowboy spirit!
Slowly, so slowly, with the help of Lyle, we finally had all the bawling mothers on the outside of the pen and the calves on the inside. Now we had to load them onto the truck and trailer. Mark hopped over the pen and into the truck. He backed it up to the loading chute and set the brake. Climbing up over the chute, he lifted up the end gate, placed his pliers in between two rods to hold it up, and walked down the chute into the pen and started to move the calves up and into the truck. Lyle stood on the outside of the chute, giving them an extra push with his stick. All you could hear was bawling, shouting, and banging as the calves made their way up the chute and into the truck. Mark followed the last one up and grabbed his pliers and "bang" down went the gate.
After the trailer was loaded, we had to make a beeline for the pasture gate. Somehow we had to outrun the mothers. They were kicking up quite a fog as they ran behind us. Mark was first . He got to the gate, jumped out, and ran back to the gate. As I made my way through, he danced around there holding back the mothers while Kate brought the gate closed. I really feel sorry for those mothers, but it has to be. We will take really good care of the calves. Besides their "babies" we were taking away were nearly as big as they were! And furthermore, the mommas had a new baby growing inside of them that they needed to take good care of.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Lyle was out early, all excited. We gave shots, and dewormed and tagged the calves. Mark and Kate gave the shots while I filled syringes and handed them to Mark and Kate. I handed the dewormer to Mark and he gave them a couple squirts on the back. Lyle was sure happy and excited when Mark let him get in on the action! He did a mighty good job too.
It was around six when Kate and Lyle rounded up the syringes, vaccine, dewormer and other supplies and headed to the house.
"Be sure to send that leftover roast beef home with Lyle. The small container in the fridge," I said as they got into the pickup. Mark and I were going to put the calves over in the weaning pen and then do the chores.
The next morning, Mark ground up some grain for them and it started three months of chores morning and night. It was always rewarding to Mark to watch them grow. Lyle would help do chores some evenings, by driving the pickup while Mark pitched the hay into the bunks.
As fall tuned to winter the calves settled down and the cows got hauled home. They didn't even remember that two months ago their calves had been taken away! This added more chores, but we were ready for them. Bales had to be put into the round bale feeders and the hay wagon ran morning and night. Either Kate or I would load up grain into five gallon buckets and haul them up to the hill in the pickup. Mark would sprinkle one bucket of grain on top of the hay and those calves would really go to it. They were putting on pounds everyday. The mammas were getting bigger and closer to having a new baby.
It was a cold Friday evening in January. Mark and I were going to go up to the high school to a wrestling match that evening because Kate was expecting her guy friend, whom she had spent hours on the phone with, to come visit that evening! He lived a couple hours away, but was on college break, so he was planning on staying the weekend with us. Kate was so excited to get to see him again! So I figured it would be most appropriate for old mom and dad to get out of the house and let them have some privacy. Besides, how often do you have a "date" with your handsome husband!
Mark came out of the bedroom smelling so clean and looking very nice dressed in his good jeans and button down shirt. "Hun, are you ready to go?" he called out.
"Yep. Just let me get my purse and let Kate know we are leaving," I said running to the living room, grabbing my purse and hollering down at Kate.
"Okay! See you later!" she hollered back up the stairs.
"Could we take the farm pickup for a change?" I asked as we walked to the garage.
"I guess, Why?"
"Oh I don't know. Maybe for old times sake. You remember we would go on dates in your red ford pickup. Kind of romantic I guess."
"Now don't go getting all romantic on me. We are just going to a wrestling match at the school for pete's sake," Mark said opening the garage door.
"I know, but, hey, you asked me to go to a wrestling match! That's special!" I said slipping onto the seat and maybe a little closer to the middle than I do for a trip to the pasture.
The gym was full of moms, dads and people like us who just wanted to see a good wrestling match. Noise, noise and more noise! Like usual, Mark found a "farmer" so we spent most of the time talking about bean prices, cattle prices and the weather. Oh well, I loved to see Mark happy and enjoying himself for once.
It was late when we pulled into the drive and parked in the garage. There were two cars in the drive way so we knew "he" had arrived! The other car belonged to Adam and his brother. Kate had invited them over to see Peter and play some games.
As we walked in the back door, the table was full of games plus Kate had popped some popcorn and the smell filled the kitchen. They were really into it! It was a fast and exciting game so there was people standing up and shouting.
"Hey, we're home!" Mark shouted above the noise.
"Oh hi Mom and Dad. Sorry we were at an exciting part. Mom, this is Peter. This is my Mom and Dad," Kate said sitting back down beside a very handsome young man.
"Hi Peter," Mark and I said in unison. "Did you have a good trip?"
"Yep, I did well after I learned that I was on the wrong road and had to turn around."
"Well that happens to the best of us."
"Did you have a good time at the meet?" Adam asked
"Yeah, we did, It is always fun to go on a date with this man, even if it's a wrestling match and he talks for the two hours with a farmer about the crops and weather," I said giving Mark a squeeze.
After watching the game players for a while, Mark and I were ready to get to bed.
"Man you guys, it's midnight. I need some sleep," Mark said looking at the clock and reaching for my hand. "See you young people in the morning."
I noticed Skitz go streaking out the door but didn't think anything of it until I pulled down the covers and hopped into bed!
I let out a scream and jumped out as fast as I had jumped in.
"What on earth?" Mark said turning around.
"That dumb cat went to the bathroom right in the middle of the mattress! And it's not poo, it's pee!" I said pulling back the covers to reveal a huge wet spot.
"Well guess where we get to sleep tonight?" Mark answered
"I would guess we get to play "camp out" on the floor" I said going to the closet for more blankets.
"I think you're right," Mark said as he snuggled in beside me. "Now isn't this fun!" he laughed as we laid there on the floor beside the bed.
The week end went by fast. There were sad good bye's on Sunday evening as Peter left to go back to college. Kate headed to the basement to do homework and Mark and I sat on the couch really doing nothing.
"I hope Peter is driving safe," I said after awhile "I'm sure he is tired."
"I'm sure he will be fine. In college you don't always get a good night's sleep," Mark said as he rubbed my feet.
"It sure seems quiet around here. Too quiet. I really miss him. He's a great kid," I said changing feet hoping Mark would take the hint and rub this one too.
"I learned one major lesson this weekend! Do you want to hear it?" I asked Mark.
"What was that?"
"With new courting going on in the house, you learn to clear your throat really loud before you go to the basement for some frozen corn! If you don't, you may witness a kiss or two!"
"Well welcome to motherhood and teenagers in the house," Mark said putting my foot down and standing up. "Let's hit the hay. I have to be up early tomorrow. Got to be at the ASC office at nine."
After that visit, there were a lot of phone conversations going on into the night. It made me happy to know that Kate was so happy.
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