Family Farm Friday #26: They Raise Families

"The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you." ~Kendall Hailey,

Well as you read about in the last Family Farm Friday blog, our family's Centennial Celebration got off to a rousing start with the Friday night family time.

For lunch on Saturday, the whole community came out to join in the celebration. We had brisket and everyone brought a side dish to share. Let me just tell you....country women can cook!

And then to top it all off, we had the best cake I have ever tasted. Now, trust and believe that I have eaten my fair share of cake, but this one was seriously amazing. It was almond cake with the best icing ever---seriously, I bet I ate half of the giant sheet cake!

During this time, Great Uncle was presented with a plaque by the Lovington Historical Society that my Dad designed. It recognized our family as being stewards of the land for 100 years. It was a pretty special thing.

After the luncheon and before the dance was sort of some down time. Everyone did different things---some people played cards, some visited more, some took naps to rest up for the dancing that was coming. I engaged in the napping, but also took a little road trip. When I was about 9, one of my neighbors married a girl who grew up in Tatum. Their wedding reception was at this huge, fancy house just outside of town--and I remembered that the owner of the house had the biggest ring I had ever seen in my whole life.

I was pretty excited when I heard the owner would be coming to the lunch because I really wondered if this ring was as big as I had remembered, or if I was just really little and had exaggerated it. Well, the owner didn't end up wearing the ring to the Centennial, but she did take me back to her house for a little tour and to see the ring. Turns out, it was as big as I remembered....10 karats. It's like a golf ball....and I got to wear it around for a few minutes! Why I didn't think to take a picture is beyond me. Bad, blogger!

Anyway, once all of that was over with, we had a little jam session in the front yard. One of my musical cousins and his roomate are in a band. So, they played for an hour or so. Everyone just gathered up a beer and a lawn chair and listened to the music.

And then, it was time. I mentioned last week that my family likes to dance. We particularly like to dance when George Strait is singing. I personally have a rule that I do not sit when George is singing. While the rest of the family may not have the same strict policy, they certainly do seem to get up and on the dance floor when the King comes on!

The one other story that needs shared involves a great family friend, Mr. Fish. My brother and I showed pigs with his kids growing up, and as I frequently mention on this blog, that means you're like family. While we were standing around waiting for dinner, we were shocked to see Mr. Fish walk up to our family reunion. Turns out, he's dating one of our distant cousins. Funny to think he might literally be family one day! Anyway, back to the dancing....it always goes back to the dancing...Mr. Fish, having to always be the center of attention, requested several song dedications....one for his girlfriend, one for one of his buddies, etc. I commented that he was making everyone else look bad because no one else was getting songs dedicated to them. I should have known better.

Next thing I know, I'm called to the dance floor with Mr. Fish and he's dedicated a song just for me.....Heartbreaker by Pat Benetar blasts on the speakers and here he goes to dancing. We made it MAYBE through half of the song before I was laughing so hard I couldn't stand up anymore. (And FYI--I'm not Heartbreaker, despite whatever he says!)

All in all, it was a great weekend. Farms don't just raise crops and livestock--they raise families. I think that our little place in Caprock has been pretty successful at that.