The Farmer took a Wife!

It's the story........of a lovely lady.........!! Actually, the story is of a hardworking and very capable farmer's wife. Her name was Margaret Polly (Kerns) Stimmel and she was my Mother! This will be my eighth Mothers' Day without her. We never really made a big deal out of Mothers' Day. Oh, Dad took her out to dinner on Saturday night, but he did that every Saturday night, anyway. We usually bought her perfume or a bathrobe or something like that, but she always seemed to develop an allergy to the perfume and after the initial wearing of the robe, we'd catch her right back in her old ratty thing that she wore everyday. It wasn't that she was ungrateful. "Stuff" just did not matter to her! Her people were the important things in her life and she showed it in so many little ways. She didn't make flowery speeches. She simply stepped in to a situation and made it better than it was before. I remember wanting to go home sooo badly one week-end, but we just did not have the money to do it. We lived in a three room apartment with a small baby and Ken was working as a janitor at the school board to pay his tuition at God's Bible School. Believe me, there was no money bush anywhere near us! Mom called me and I told her, with much disappointment in my voice, I'm sure, that we were not coming. She sympathized with me and nonchalantly hung up the phone. 4 hours later, she and Daddy arrived at my door, bearing her wonderful fried chicken and deep dish macaroni and cheese. She was the type of Mother who made sure that the silverware was set on the left side of the plate for James since he was left handed......that Dad got the celery hearts since they were his favorite......that the porch light was left on if she knew you were coming in late........that the barn light was on so that Dad could back the wagons in after dark.......that there was plenty of iced tea and water on hand when we were working in the field during planting or harvest.......the list could go on and on of all the little, loving ways she made life all around her a better place to be. This is just a very small tribute to a wonderful woman. My Mother, the farmer's wife! Oh, to be just half of the woman she was!!!!!!!