We just had our first snow of the season here in Ohio, a bit earlier than expected seeing as the leaves are still clinging to the trees. Thankfully, our crops are already harvested, and the wheat has been sown. Perhaps you didn't know we are a farming family, I don't recall ever writing about it as we've shared our Travels with Our Trachie...but our girl has most certainly traveled some bumpy miles sitting in the buddy seat of a tractor! In fact, the night our trachie was born, her Daddy had just kicked his feet up in the recliner after a long day of combining during soybean harvest when Mommy's water broke sending the house into a panic! Our girl was even born on the night of a rare Harvest Moon total eclipse.
Those first few weeks following her birth were incredibly difficult for Daddy who still had crops to harvest and an intubated newborn baby fighting for her life in the NICU. If you know a farmer, you know the insane amount of hours that they are in the fields working during harvest, we're talking fifteen-hour days for days on end. But whenever he could, Daddy would make the hour-long drive to the hospital to sit with our fragile baby who had a tracheostomy surgery at just fourteen days old.
It would be several years before we felt comfortable bringing our trachie to the fields. There is a lot of dust flying during harvest and we worried about our daughter's fragile respiratory system even with the air filters on the ventilator. But eventually, she joined the crew! It's always a treat for Daddy to have a buddy in the combine, especially when they come bearing a hot meal! Our trachie loves to "supervise" all aspects of our farming operation. And this past farming season, she learned how to steer the tractor (on Mommy's lap) while driving the grain cart tractor alongside the combine as we "dumped on the go."
Next time you drive by a combine or tractor in the field, I hope it warms your heart to consider who might be riding along with their Daddy or Mommy... because girls farm, too! Here's our SALUTE to all you farming families out there! We appreciate you!
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