Do it Again

Sheets of paper with random notes are strewn across their dining room table.

Receipts from the local farm and ranch store, the grocery store, the parts store, the vet, the farrier, and a hundred other places sit piled up, a reminder of an entire year's worth of advances on their operating line and another year's worth of living.

He looks at all it, takes a deep breath, and opens the statement from the bank. The check from their calves sits next to his wife's computer, and he gently pulls it over in front of him.

A quiet sigh of relief rushes out of him. The calves didn't weigh up, but they still pulled his family through. Nothing much will be left as a cushion, but they will pay the bank to zero and renew the line for another year.
He gets up and hugs his wife, and wipes a stray tear from her cheek. "Do it again?" He asks, already knowing her answer. "Do it again, " she tells him, knowing full well that there is nothing else either of them would rather do, even if the stress of it all is too much to bear sometimes.

He sits back down and runs some numbers, because it helps him cope. She sits down and reconciles the online accounting system, making sure it matches the bank.

Together they make a plan for what next year might look like, and pray for better markets and better weather, and for the good Lord to carry them through one more season.

❤️ Richelle