Farm Life Goes On

Amid our sadness and grief there are still other animals that must be tended to and care for with summer quickly fading to fall. The tire needs to be fixed on the tractor. The hay building needs to be cleaned out and the roof repaired. The pig shelter needs to be moved, insulated, sided and fenced.

The water needs a float.  A trip to the feed store is in order for chicken feed, pig feed and some more white electric fence ribbon.

We have two roofs to fix and a shelter to build for the backhoe before October. This doesn't include the daily activities of feeding and watering. This doesn't include puppy care, foster care, vet visits and some sort of social life.

It's amazing I have time to cry. We've had to stop recent projects because of the grief. Brent and I simply could not move forward. We had to sit and cry. We miss our little dude who was a huge part of our daily life. It's not getting easier and in some ways it's harder the farther away we get from the day Gizmo died.

We did get the pig shelter built, moved and sided. We've gotten to visit with a handful of friends. We've been lucky enough to share our grief. There's a lot of people that miss Gizmo.

Life on the farm must go on, but every few hours the loss hits me in the gut like a Mike Tyson punch. It hits me in the core and rattles everything. I have to stop. I can't breathe. It's the same image that causes me to double over - picking his little body up off the road knowing.

It's seeing his body in the dark, not moving, not breathing and Brent immobile over top. It's scooping him up and his head lists to the side. It's cuddling him until his warmth is gone.

A friend said I need to find the joy back in life. I have smiled as Vincent comes to life with our love. I have smiled when we brought Autumn a bale of this years hay and she nickered in delight.

I've laughed at Brent arguing with the j-trim as we sided the pig building, but deep down there is a sadness. A loss. Immense grief that catches me off guard and knocks me down for the day.

Time is a great healer and most of the time, I'm filling time, until time passes. That's like therapy. Ironic that the beast that took my Gizmo is the same thing that gives me comfort. The farm. I hate it and I love it.

I've been thinking about the beach lately. I've been thinking about long walks on the beach with no cars. I've been thinking about winter isolation. I've been thinking about escaping for a little while. I guess I've been thinking a lot lately.

I miss Gizmo.