“ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” I Corinthians 13: 4-7
That is our highest goal as we celebrate our anniversary this week. Of course we have often failed at reaching those goals, but we keep on keeping on, hoping to come as close as we can to attaining them. It is good to think about our past forty-eight years of marriage. We pray we have several more to enjoy life together, and after the events of the past few weeks, we are even more aware of thanking God for each day at a time.
Dan and I met while I was in college in Worthington, and he lived at home near Brewster farming with his family. After I transferred to Winona State University, our relationship became pretty “long distance”. There were no cell phones, and I didn’t have a car. I managed to come back to this area every couple months, thanks to a special friend, Marilyn Moger! She had a car, and several of us piled in it every time it came this way. Phone calls were expensive, and most of our keeping in touch was through our daily letters. He and I both wrote almost every day. Crazy to think about now, but every once in awhile we open that dusty box of letters in the attic and reminisce. Some bring laughter and even a few tears. We probably should burn them, but so far we want to hang on to the memories.
Our first home was south of Brewster in a huge house with seven bedrooms and two bathrooms and stairways! Fifty dollars a month rent, but we shared the house with little critters that had parties at night by running through the ceiling. I hate mice, and one of our first fights was over one of those furry and fast creatures. We had seen one run into a closet off the kitchen. Dan told me to hit it with the broom while he went in to chase it out. It came out, I threw the broom and hopped up on the kitchen table and screamed. He yelled and wanted to know why I didn’t hit it! I told him he could hit it….well, you get the picture. Not our best acting out of the above goal….
After our first year and a half of marriage living near Brewster, we found ourselves moving to a farm southwest of Fulda with an address of Iona. Even though I had been raised in the little village of Bigelow, not far away, I had never heard of Iona! Pretty funny, but I went to Worthington to the Montgomery Wards store to retrieve a catalogue, and the clerk told me I had to go to my “closest Wards store”. I tried to assure her it WAS my closest store, but to no avail. Next Dan went, but she wouldn’t give him a catalogue either. Finally his mom, who was a loyal customer, went in. She explained we lived just north of Reading, and she gave her the book immediately. I guess she didn’t understand where Iona was either!
With Dan being the oldest son of nine children, he wanted to farm, but didn’t know if he would have the opportunity. One day at church, a friend came up to him and offered him a farm to rent. Just a few weeks later, the offer changed to us buying the farm for the same money down. We were young and excited to strike out on our own, and we have enjoyed raising our family in the northern most part of Nobles County. We feel pretty much like Murray County residents, really. I guess it is rather unique for our four children to have been born and raised all in one place, and they all think of “home” as one thought.
We moved here over my school Easter vacation while I taught in Heron Lake. While driving through Fulda, I stopped at the school and met Mr. Westra. I asked him if he had any teaching openings for the next school year. He told me to sit down, and I had an interview on the spot. Before I left there, I had secured a job for the 1970-71 school year. That was the first of many blessings we received from moving to this area.
Dan wanted to milk cows, and soon after we moved in he began doing that. Before that, I secretly bought him a sow, soon to have piglets, from his cousins, Vern and LeAnn Wenzel. I hid it in one of the smaller buildings and fed it, surprising him on his birthday. It was all new to me, as I had never lived on a farm. Over the years the pigs left, but not the cows. I have never once heard him say, “ I wish I didn’t have to milk today”. He told me he thought he would quit milking at age 55…obviously that didn’t happen. It is no secret that I would like him to slow down and enjoy some time away from the cows, but he told me when I retired from teaching that he wasn’t ready to do that yet. So I will try to “be patient and kind….”
We enjoy our neighborhood and being in the country. Our life is pretty simple, and we have always enjoyed good neighbors, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and just being able to raise our family, crops and livestock in a place that we feel God led us to. Although we are not rich by today’s farming scale, we believe we are rich in so many other ways. And our blessings have been too numerous to count over all these years.
Once again, over the past few weeks, we have been reminded of the biggest blessing of living in this place, a small mid-west community. THE PEOPLE…I have received cards and notes from those I don’t even know personally, but they have prayed for me, encouraged me, and given both Dan and me such feelings of hope and love. Thank you!!
