Always Room for More Hearts
The Christmas tree is down from the attic and it’s time to find just the right place before the decorations are placed. With our home on Stauffer we don’t have a lot of options but it is important. When the tree is placed, decorated and lit for the first time of the season – I know this is the place.
My oh my, how many times in so many places has the tree been lit for the first time. Riesel, Texas Orlin and I had a true Charlie Brown tree in a rental home that was $35.00 a month. The next Christmas we were on our very own acre and we had a pine shrub we cut down in the pasture behind our acre lot and it had a definite crook half way up the trunk. It stood proud in the living room of what had previously been a chicken house. Yes that was the perfect place.
The Christmas we had in Waco, Texas was in a rental home that had way more room than we had furniture for. That year we had no tree as it was decision time as to whether or not selling for Lutheran Brotherhood was going to be a good fit.
The next Christmas we had new born baby Carrie as she sat in her plastic infant seat under the wonderment of the Christmas tree that had again been found in a pasture at Beaver Falls, Minnesota where Orlin was working for his sister on their beef farm. This tree stood straight and tall and the fine strands of tinsel moved in delight when the space heater’s wave of warmth hit them. The farm house was huge and on the chilly side. Yes, that was the perfect place.
Boon Lake Township in Renville County was very familiar as that is where I walked the mile and a half to rural school District #34. Who would have ever imagined that Orlin and I would be farming a half mile from that school. Old McDonald could not have held a torch to our life. It was the total deal. Home grown pork, beef, poultry (chickens, geese and ducks) filled our freezer that was adjacent to the fruit cellar. Who knew filled fruit jars could be so beautiful? Carrie was joined by Kevin under the Christmas trees that followed each year. Yes, that was the perfect place.
Jesus is the Reason
Carrie and Kevin were two little rag muffins as they sat next to me in the pickup (with no seat belts) pulling a wagon on our way to the elevator in Buffalo Lake with soy beans from our harvest. I can’t tell you how many times we passed a vacant rural school site on our trips with grain. Not too many years down the road we were living in a mobile home on that very site as plans were made to remodel the school house into our home. It was a challenge that would make any reality show on home improvements seem like Tinker Toys. What had been the gymnasium on the ground floor became our home with the entire second floor yet to be planned. We did it up just right with lots of room for the kids, family and friends. By that time we would have been a family of five but Orlin and I mourned the lose of a little boy that was just not meant to be. The fireplace that Orlin built into the living room warmed the home and our hearts. Each year we could have had the tallest of Christmas trees ever as the ceilings were very high. Of course they would have to be as previously there had been basket ball hoops. Yes, that was the perfect place.
I had never paid much attention to Minnesota geography so I really had to check on a state map as to where Watonwan County was. More to the point where Madelia was. It happened to be where we would be moving to. Goodbye to seeing family in trips of just a few miles. I really enjoyed coffee with my mom and dad in a moments notice. At that time Kevin was in grade school and Carrie in Jr. High. We actually lived in two different homes within Madelia and each time we made a home filled with laughter, hopes and dreams. Each Christmas we put up the Christmas tree – the same perfect artificial tree we had first purchased on the farm when we realized that the real deal made Kevin sick. Yes, that was the perfect place.
Farm building sites have their attractions and none so like the site in South Branch Township. More work than there were hours in the day. It was not unusual that a camp fire would celebrate a great day of work complete with wieners and marshmallows. The buildings were tweaked and fixed and the house was again a home but a bit more quiet after Carrie graduated and went to the metro for college. In time to come there were trips looking at different locations to move to. No, that was not the perfect place anymore.
Believe, Believe, Believe – and it Can be So
I stayed in Watonwan County, Orlin did not. Drastic changes within a family do not come about without damage. But by the grace of God the heart is the strongest muscle that God created. Understanding is not a given. Forgiveness is an individual’s option through grace. Through the years after our divorce Orlin and I became friends that shared the greatest gift of our lives – our children Carrie and Kevin and most important – memories. Life took Orlin and his wife Martha to Arkansas. My life remains in Watonwan County with my husband Dennis. Orlin and I had agreed to save the best of what we had and leave the rest where it belonged – in the past. Orlin has been gone for six years, but he will never be forgotten in my heart and I see the best of him in our children. We continue enjoying Martha’s visits when she comes from Arkansas to see family. Life really does not have to be complicated.
Dennis and I have lived on a property that many people can only dream of living in – a home, a true home. It’s cozy as only a home that is seven hundred and twenty square feet can be. My sister calls it a doll house. For sure Dennis and I call it home. When we are away we can’t wait to get back to familiar sounds and smells. Sitting here with coffee in hand and marveling at memories that a lit tree can evoke is truly priceless. Yes, this is the place.
In life, please give and have no remembrance of it, or take and remember it always.
