The Rural Voice, 1990-05, Page 18ELEGANT
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14 THE RURAL VOCE
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Super Wrench's standard line
about our marriage is that he was
captured on the first day of May and
has been hollering MAYDAY ever
since.
He's been hollering for a long
time, in fact this year it's been 25
years. I'm just grateful he hasn't
hollered QUITS.
There's another anniversary
included in this one. For 10 years,
through this publication, readers have
been sharing moments of our lives.
Both anniversaries are good reasons
to party hearty!
I'd like to tell you we haven't
changed much in 25 years, but I'm
sure you'd know I've been inhaling
udder wash. Silver is an apt name for
this anniversary. We have that sil-
vered look about us. Super Wrench
more so than I, since he's been doing
all that hollering.
His hairline has receded a bit and
the silver has touched his head and
chest. My chest hair hasn't changed
any in 25 years, but some of my body
parts went south without my per-
mission.
Some things haven't changed.
The farm still isn't paid for. We're
waiting for better hog prices! Every-
thing we started out with a quarter
of a century ago is worn out. Some
of the towels wouldn't dry a gnat, the
sheets have patches on them, and the
pots and pans are clanging their last
hurrah.
The couch that has an iron bar
reinforcing it is still waiting to be
replaced. The money for it went for
paddles in the manure spreader. The
furniture looks worn and, when you
look at the walls of our living room,
you can see why. The real symbols of
two and a half decades of success are
displayed there.
The pictures show our family in
various photos, coupled with plenty
of graduation pictures. There isn't one
of us holding up a bar with numbers
and wearing a striped suit. The living -
room shelves are crammed with 4-H
trophies and awards and the walls are
covered with various certificates of
achievement.
Our refrigerator runs on empty
most of the time. The traffic in and
out of our house is heartwarming.
I understand that some of the best
parties ever held by the kids were
when we were gone.
There are no velvet couches, or
drapes to match the rugs. We've got
another quarter century to get all that.
There are no pictures of southern
cruises, just aerial photos of what the
farm looked like when we got it, and
what it looks like now.
Super Wrench and I both have
dreams of what the next 25 years will
bring. He's a firm believer in not
sweating the small stuff, and I'm a
relentless goal setter. We both agree
we'd like to pay for the farm in the
next quarter century. If we left it to
any of the children in this state, we'd
likely be hauled up for child abuse.
There are no dreams of a Mer-
cedes on the horizon, but it would be
nice to have a car with doors that all
open from the outside. Super Wrench,
I know, is still dreaming of that com-
bine that keeps all its parts on when
he's driving it to the field.
For now, we've got the most
important things in life to give us
reason to get up with a smile on our
faces. We've got health, hope, faith,
and both sets of parents still with us
to help celebrate.
Who could ask for anything
more?0
Gisele Ireland, from Bruce County,
began her series of humorous columns
with The Rural Voice. Her most
recent book, Brace Yourself, is
available for $7 from Bumps Books,
Teeswater, Ontario, NOG 2S0.