We all reach that point in our life when we look back and recall what made us – us. I’ve done a lot of soul searching recently after turning 30 years old. I thought that number was so far away, but somehow it snuck up on me. And, as I evaluate my life at 30 I’ve come to realize a few things…
I remember how simple life was growing up in the country. My way of travel as a child wasn’t a 4-wheeler like many kids today, it was the old fashioned means of transportation – a horse. I could ride my pony down our gravel road and stop in to each neighbor’s house to catch up. If I was lucky I would get a piece a candy and some freshly squeezed lemonade – the real stuff, not that shake from a can imitation.
We didn’t need a swimming pool on the farm; we had Brush Creek with plenty of swimming holes and minnows to catch. When I needed a drink, I would dip my hand in the creek or the nearby spring to cool off. I would race across the gravel barefoot, ride horses bareback, climb the rock cliffs below my parent’s house, pick gooseberries and persimmons and eat them (unwashed) without thinking twice and somehow I still made it to 30.
Today most folks don’t call on their neighbors and would be scared to drink from a spring. Parents are uptight about all the “possible” dangers out there. As a mother of an almost 2-year-old, I understand that. But, kids have to be kids. The farm provided me with a lifetime of learning that I hope to pass on to my children. I look at the life I led on the farm and each experience molded me into the young lady I am and helped guide me into the mother I have become.
There’s nothing else like the county life.
I appreciate my country upbringings and I know that the future is brighter over the next hilltop for me and my family. Over the past couple months my family and I have looked at our future and together we have decided it’s the perfect time for me to go back to school to earn my masters in agriculture and help to tell the positive story of our industry.
Therefore, I want to introduce the new editor of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor – Lynzee Glass. Lynzee is a Tunas, Mo., native who graduated from Missouri State University in 2008. Lynzee is very excited about her new career path and will start with the paper on August 1.
Please help me welcome her with open arms, like all us country folks do! The very best to each of you and your families throughout the year and beyond… God Bless.
