giant silvery stock pot with steam coming out of the top.
Her mom and younger sister were bustling about with food and glass jars.
“Mom’s canning carrots.” Betsy said, never failing to inform me of her family’s going’s-on. Having no clue what it meant to can something and not having the confidence to ask
I just smiled and nodded. “The carrots Mom is using are actually deer bait.”
She looked at me half expecting some sort of surprised reaction. B
ut again I just smiled and nodded.
Looking back I think she told me things to see how I would react,
but she didn’t really ever get much of a shocked reaction from me.
“Oh, apple cider has protein from the bugs in the apples? That’s interesting.
In fact that is kind of neat. Sure! I won’t tell anyone. :) ”
“The big black tub that we are washing the apples in is really used to water the horse and the cow.
Hmm, well if you washed it out I guess it’s okay. Sure, I won’t tell anyone. :)”
“You guys had to pick out some of the deer carrots because they were moldy from being in a
plastic sack. Hmm. You gotta do what you gotta do I guess. :)”
Later that evening I was standing next to Libby while she practiced her flute.
Wendy was sitting at the end of the dining room table talking to me trying to get to know me better.
Betsy’s youngest brother Logan was at the sink getting a drink of water. Her oldest brother Aaron
came in from working out in the barn.
Midst the hissing of the pressure canner, flute playing and chatter I see
Aaron begin to poke and tease his little brother who wasn’t even half of his age.
I was not impressed. Growing up in a family where “Stop” meant “Stop” the moment you say it,
I was disturbed that a young man approaching 30 would continue to harass a boy who wasn’t
even in high school yet. Still being a newcomer to their house I quieted the ‘crusader’ inside of me. If I was any braver...oh boy.
“Those canners are still hot!” Wendy raised her voice a little. Aaron stopped.
Logan drank his water with a scowl still on his face.
Aaron’s eyes met mine. Him still grinning after being scolded by his mother. Grow up!
I was giving him my “I am not impressed” look. I could tell he was a little embarrassed now.
Good. Picking on someone less than half your age- not impressive especially to a person like me.
Looking back, whether or not he was trying to show off I did not know.
But nevertheless I thought he was acting childish. Little did I know that he was
actually kind of interested in me. Years later he told me that whenever Betsy would
talk about this Lauren he wanted to hear what she had to say.
Proverbs 22:6 talks about training children onto the right path and when they
are old they will not leave it. Children are being trained 24/7 whether parents know it or not.
I find that a lot of what we are told indirectly as children has just as much if not more of a
lasting affect on us as we grow older.
Growing up we were not allowed to tease. Ever. Like never-forever-never-ever. Mom not only had eyes in the back of her head, but she also had super sonic hearing
and telepathy. Any sort of discord was squashed. Which was a disservice to me in the area
of conflict resolution but that’s another story.
When I stepped out into a bigger world I found for some that is not the case.
That’s not bad. It’s just different and I have come to find that, that’s okay.
“To be teased is to me loved.” I heard Betsy quote a friend of ours.
Presently, I can take teasing a little bit better than what I used to. Instead of a deadpan look
I can at least smile and even come up with a witty (witty for me anyway) comeback.
I can’t undo the past but I can probably take people who know me by surprise now.
Blimey Cow - Youtube
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