Down Home

Just a few days before a blind date, my sister posted a whole slew of pictures from our years growing up on the farm. Facebook faux pas! To her credit, I hadn't mentioned the date - but had a good laugh at the timing.

I would be the one in blue, upper left. I climbed more like an ape than a kid. Obviously, my keen sense of fashion started on the farm, too.

It was a priceless upbringing with my sister and cousins. We fished, played in the creek when it rained, ate apples from the orchard, fed grass to the horses, and washed dishes after meals. I love them. They are more like sisters than cousins. The land belonged mostly to our grandparents, and my dad bought a few acres from them.

In the pic, we're playing in a chicken pen-converted-to-playhouse contraption. Growing up on the farm gave ample room for imagination and priority to family relationships.