Memories of Grandma's farm

I received a list of things from one of my cousins recently. What made this list special was it was a list of memories that she had of times at my grandparent's farm. My grandparents lived on a farm that was at the top of one of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi river in Wisconsin. My cousins and I spent quite a bit of our summers there growing up.

My Grandpa Kaske died when I was around 8 or 9, so I have a few memories of him but more so of staying at The Farm with my Grandma. She was a special lady and when I look back on my life, she probably has had the most influence in my life then just about anyone. Even though she past away almost 10 years ago, I find myself thinking about her and wondering what she would say or do in given situations.

My Grandma was the type of person that you could talk to about any subject. What made it so easy to do that was that she actually cared about you.

When we would stay on The Farm for given periods of time, my cousins and I would be given free reign over the 100+ acres except during deer hunting time, then we weren't allowed to wander around in the woods. So most of my memories come from us being crazy kids.

Recently we learned that the old farm house had been lost in a fire, which is what triggered the first list. I have to admit that while I don't talk about 'The Farm' much it isn't too far from me at any given time. Sometimes it takes something to motivate you. So Beth, you have motivated me to create a list as well - sorry if I borrow from yours a little bit.

These are some of the things that stick out about The Farm:

1. Staying up as late as we wanted. Grandma didn't care how late we stayed up as long as we didn't make too much noise. That being said we could also sleep in as late as we wanted.

2. Sega Genesis. We would play games like Madden football for hours.

3. The forts. These were built in trees and even several of the sheds where used as forts.

4. BB guns. These were some pretty low powered affairs, but one of the dumbest moments in my life was when I shot myself in the hand....

5. Grandma's Cinnamon rolls. These things were huge (like 4 or 5 inches high) with a good inch or two of frosting. Of course all made from scratch.

6. Mashed potatoes with thick gravy.

7. Playing in the haymow. The smell of fresh cut hay. There were two sections and you could slide down the hay from one section to the other.

8. Getting to drive the riding lawnmower. We probably were way to young to allow us to do that, but Grandma let us drive anyway.

9. The view of the Mississippi from the far field. There was something therapeutic about going out into the fields and looking out over the great river. It became almost a refuge for me during my early college days.

10. 'Camping' this really consisted of us putting up a tent on the other side of the garage so you couldn't see the house and sleeping in it.

11. Playing baseball along side the house - how we went so many years without knocking out a window I will never know.

12. Shooting off fireworks - trying to set records by how many black cats we could string together in a single blast.

13. The smell of the ground after it was first turned for crops.

14. Running through the corn fields when the corn was taller then you.

15. Praying every night together before we went to bed.

There are many other things that come and go in my mind as I think about the time spent on the farm and the various stories that came out of those times. Most of all the thing that sticks with me is the unconditional love that my Grandma had for me and the fact that no matter what happened she just knew that everything would work out 'just fine'. This was especially important for me when I was trying to figure out the whole dating thing. I usually had a bunch of female friends but was always in that 'friend' category and never anything more then that.

As strange as it sounds, my Grandma was the most understanding about all of that. She would often tell me that some day I would meet someone who would be just perfect for me, and when that happened I would bring that special girl up to the farm to meet her and then she would tell her all the silly stories about me growing up there.

The next to last trip that I ever made to the farm was to bring Janelle there to meet my Grandma. Grandma was really sick with cancer and wasn't able to really say much aside from hi. So we sat together for a little while and I was able to take Janelle around the farm and show her some different places where the cousins and I had escapades.

The last trip to the farm was just after my Grandma pasted away. It just seemed like a place that was too quiet and I never have gone back to visit. With the news that the farm house has burned down it really seems like a large portion of my life is now only alive in my memories.

I hope that through time I will be able to be relevant to my kids the way that my Grandma was to me growing up and that in time I can be the same kind of gentle uplifting encourager for my grandkids that she was to me.

I love you Grandma - I wish you were here to show you all of the things and places that life has taken me and that you would have been able to meet my children. Especially your great grand-daughter who shares a lot of your spunk and also shares your name, Adline. But I have faith that at some point we will meet up again.