Last Wednesday and Thursday we also had 4 new babies born. The babies are my favorite part of dairy life. They're so cute and tiny, at least until you try to feed them and they don't want to eat. All of these babies were first calves for their four mamas. So the mamas had never been in the milk barn before, which leads to a lot of prodding and yelling to get them into the barn. Then you need a lot of patience to get the milker on the cow without getting kicked upside the head. We successfully got all 4 cows in the barn and milked without anyone getting hurt. Overall last week was just a rough week for me.
I am a bit of a workaholic as is my dad, Frank, and both of my sisters. Basically we are a bunch of yes people. If dad or Frank need me to do something I automatically say yes and I make it work no matter what else is going on. We are McCollum's and McCollum's get shit done, no matter what. This goes back to my grandparents who were both workaholics as well. You could say it's embedded in our DNA.
With all of us having this attitude I find myself forgetting to simply live sometimes. I have to remind myself to take care of me. Working on the farm is a very physical job and I can't afford to get sick or seriously hurt because there is no one to take my place. I push myself to the limit more times than I would like to admit. My body always has a nice way to tell me to slow down, usually by me hurting myself because I'm too tired to pay attention to everything.
This morning my moo moo's were actually happy and well behaved. They all came into the barn willingly. No chasing, no yelling. It was the most peaceful morning I've had in over a week and it made me remember that I need to slow down. And I did just that. I took time to look at the sunrise and dad and I spent about 30 minutes just talking. No working and talking, just sitting and talking. We become so good at multitasking that we forget how nice it is to slow down and take a look around. If you don't take the time to appreciate what is around you then you can become bitter about it. Farm life is hard and it did make my grandmother a little bitter.
One thing that my grandparents did teach my dad and Frank to do is to travel. Once my dad and his siblings were old enough to handle all the farm chores on their own, my grandparents started taking vacations. None of us are world travelers by any means, but we have made our way to a lot of the United States. Dad and Frank both take vacations once a year as do I. You have to get away in order to miss the farm. Everyone needs a break and luckily we have a set up that allows us to all have a vacation.
The first time I truly missed the farm was when I moved away and went to college. My sisters and I started working weekends on the farm when I was 15 so my weekends had always been full of work. I had to figure out what to do on the weekends. This lead me to going home a lot of weekends and hanging out at the farm. Not being able to go to the farm whenever I wanted was the strangest adjustment I had to make when I went to college. I missed it. Missed the cows, missed the babies, missed my sisters, and missed dad and Frank. I didn't think I would miss it like I did. And obviously it just goes to show that the workaholic in me never stops. It's good to miss the farm though. If I didn't have time to miss it then I wouldn't be able to appreciate it the way that I do.
The gorgeous sunrise from the barn this morning :)
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