The Unintentional Urban Farmer

03/05/2024

02/29/2024

My parents were married for 55 years. One morning, my mom was going downstairs to make dad breakfast, she had a heart attack and fell. My father picked her up as best he could and almost dragged her into the truck. At full speed, without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.

When he arrived, unfortunately she was no longer with us.

During the funeral, my father did not speak; his gaze was lost. He hardly cried.

That night, his children joined him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remembered beautiful anecdotes and he asked my brother, a theologian, to tell him where Mom would be at that moment. My brother began to talk about life after death and guesses as to how and where she would be.

My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the cemetery.

"Dad!" we replied, "it's 11 at night, we can't go to the cemetery right now!"

He raised his voice, and with a glazed look he said: "Don't argue with me, please don't argue with the man who just lost his wife of 55 years."

There was a moment of respectful silence, we didn't argue anymore. We went to the cemetery. With a flashlight we reached her grave.

My father sat down, prayed, and told his children: "It was 55 years... you know? No one can really talk about true love if haven't done life with a person."

He paused and wiped his face.

"She and I, we were together in the good and in the bad." he continued. "When I changed jobs, we packed up when we sold the house and moved. We shared the joy of seeing our children become parents, together we mourned the departure of loved ones, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we supported each other in pain, we hugged one another each day, and we forgave mistakes."

And then he paused and added, "Children, that's all gone and I'm happy tonight. Do you know why I'm happy? Because she left before me. She didn't have to go through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I will be the one to go through that, and I thank God for that. I love her so much that I wouldn't have liked her to suffer..."

When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had tears streaming down our faces. We hugged him and he comforted us, "It's okay. We can go home. It's been a good day."

That night I understood what true love is. It is more than just romanticism and s*x, it's two people who stand beside one another, who are committed to one another ... through all the good and bad that life throws at you.

Peace in your hearts.

🖊 Author Unknown

02/07/2024

Originally posted by Tamera S.

Something to think about....
What if you were a single parent with a child . You work full time for $14.00 hr. You bring home roughly $800 .00 per paycheck (bi-weekly).

Your bills:
$1, 000 . 00 / rent
$150 .00 / electrical
$250 .00 / car payment
$150 .00 / car insurance

So let’s do the math :
You bring home about
$1,600 .00 a month & your bills average about $1,550.00 (give or take).

You’re making it, but barely.
This doesn't even include groceries, internet, cable, cell phone, etc .
(nor does it include child tax credit, or child support)

Now, it’s a really cold December and you get a power bill for $600 .00
How do you pay that?
To put it simply , you don’t.
Because you can’t.

So your power gets shut off.
But you know what your lease says?
It says you get evicted if your utilities are terminated.

So now you’re in court crying to a judge who doesn’t care, & you have 10 days to get out.

Well you’re in luck, because you found somewhere with 3 days to spare & it’s only $650.00 a month!
But to get in, you must pass a background & credit check. Which you can’t because you just got evicted.

You’ve never been a criminal, but even if you could pass it, you’re looking at $1300 to move in, after paying the deposit & first month’s rent.

Time’s up ....
Landlord shows up at 7am with the police & changed your locks.

So, now you’re living in your car with your 7 year old son & everything you need to get by.

You tried to get a storage unit, but you don’t have a billing address so they won’t sell one to you. So you could only take what would fit in your backseat.

You pay to shower at local truck stops & eat whatever can be cooked in a gas station microwave.Someone sees you & your son living like this & calls C.P.S; guess what happens next ? ? ?

They remove your child from your care.
As if this isn’t devastating enough, you lose your job too. (Because “an employee losing their child reflects poorly on this company .”)

So now, you apply for an apartment with the region where the waiting list is 3-7 years.
Then you go into Wal-Mart to put in an application.

When you get back to your car you see that your back window has been smashed & someone helped themselves to your belongings. Remember that it is December & really cold. Now you have damage to your only shelter.

You call your car insurance, who says your deductible is $1,000.00
~ AND ~ they’re going to increase your monthly rate since you’re now
“ high risk .”

You call the homeless shelter as a last resort & all their beds are full.

I’ll stop here .....
Because I think you get the point .
The people we work with everyday are these people .
WE ARE THESE PEOPLE .

We are all so close to homelessness & don’t even realize it .

All it takes is :
* one unexpected bill📃~
* one fender bender🚙💥🚗~
* one lay-off 📊~
* one house fire 🏠🔥 , etc.

Instead of talking trash about people who are poor , homeless , or need assistance , why don’t you try being grateful that you’re not in their shoes ...... YET !

This is about staying humble & being kind .

BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE ❤

We Are All Struggling In Different Ways.. 😭😩

01/21/2024

Do You Want to Be a Mermaid Or a Whale? The Answer Might Surprise You!
May 19, 2018 By Eileen Williams

Recently, in a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.It read: “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?”?

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman pictured on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym. She had a whale of a lot to say:

“To Whom It May Concern, ?

Whales are always surrounded by friends: dolphins, sea lions, and curious humans. They have an active s*x life, get pregnant, and have adorable baby whales. They enjoy stuffing themselves with shrimp, playing and swimming in the sea, and visiting wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea, and the coral reefs of Polynesia.

Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. ?They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.They are loved, protected, and admired by almost everyone in the world.?

Mermaids don’t exist.If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of psychoanalysts due to their identity crisis. Fish or human would prove quite a quandary for even the most skilled of therapists.

They don’t have a s*x life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have s*x? Just look at them … where is IT?Therefore, they don’t have kids either. Not to mention,who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? ?

So the choice is perfectly clear to me:I want to be a whale!?

P.S. We are in an age when the media attempts to convince us that only skinny people are beautiful. I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and good chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.?

Therefore, beginning today, when you look at your butt in the mirror you can say to yourself, ‘Good grief, look how smart I am!’”

May 19, 2018 By Eileen Williams

12/02/2023

Have you ever thought about this?

In 100 years like in 2123 we will all be buried with our relatives and friends.

Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today. All our possessions will be unknown and unborn, including the car we spent a fortune on, and will probably be scrap, preferably in the hands of an unknown collector.

Our descendants will hardly or hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather's father?

After we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone's bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history's oblivion. We won't even be memories.

If we paused one day to analyse these questions, perhaps we would understand how ignorant and weak the dream to achieve it all was.

If we could only think about this, surely our approaches, our thoughts would change, we would be different people.

Always having more, no time for what's really valuable in this life. I'd change all this to live and enjoy the walks I've never taken, these hugs I didn't give, these kisses for our children and our loved ones, these jokes we didn't have time for. Those would certainly be the most beautiful moments to remember, after all they would fill our lives with joy.

And some of us waste it day after day with greed, selfishness and intolerance.

Every minute of life is priceless and will never be repeated, so take time to enjoy, be grateful for, and celebrate your existence.

10/12/2023

I guess at my age I feel a little sad my kids will never get to see some of the department stores I did as a kid. It was a big deal to go to JC Pennys, Woolsworth counter for lunch, Ben Franklins , and TG&Y. My grandparents actually bought their house kit and all the appliances as they got electricity and plumbing from Sears. Can you imagine an entire house coming as a kit!? Sears brought elevators and escalators to stores and at the time it was a very big deal to see and experience. I remember the egg salad sandwiches or BLTs double stacked with crustless bread and at Woolsworth lunch counter. We always got an ice cream cone to leave with as we walked down town getting other items we needed for the house or property. The service at stores was really nice, back in those days you put on your best clothes to go shopping anywhere and staff knew your name and engaged with you while shopping for really anything. Gold Spot Dairy in Enid Oklahoma was also a lunch counter experience. A slice of meat loaf and mashed potatoes and green beans or we would have cottage cheese salad that was made fresh at the dairy. I grew up in middle America.
What is a department store or a store of the 70s and 80s that you went to as a child that is no longer in business? Tell us what you miss about that store.

10/10/2023

Look up how to check you turmeric for
lead. Google it. Countries are finding high levels in children and adult, its being imported to the USA. Check other spices as well.