At Weeks End
Ive never forgotten the little red cowboy hat Hudson wore when we took him to the Allen County Fair to ride a pony.
He looked forward to going, and it took no coaxing for him to let the ponys owner lift him into a saddle. I paid a dollar, and four small horses plodded off, immune to boredom of walking without a destination for two or three hours. Meander would be a good word for how they walked, not fast and absent emotion.
As Hudson came around grandma took photos; I smiled and probably said something silly, like ride em cowboy. Hang on? He was cinched into the saddle and wouldnt have fallen off if his mount had been stung by a bee.
For a kid who spent all but the first year of his life in Olathe and then Roswell, N.M., a city of 50,000, young Hudson had an interest in farm life.
When he came to visit he wanted to go to Strickler Dairy and see the little cows where wed walk along the rows of small sheds where the calves were kept until old enough to join the herd. Hudson would stop and touch their noses; theyd respond eagerly thinking he had a milk bottle handy.
When David Bedenbender was cutting soybeans he offered Hudson a ride in his combine. We drove out to find the combine crawling through a field a quarter of a mile off the road. We walked along a lane to the field and came to a low spot muddied by a recent rain. Carry me, Hudson begged. I did. He didnt like to get his shoes muddy. So much for being a farmer.
Another time we went to look for arrowheads. When he found one, Hudson later said I probably had planted it for him to find. You think Id do that?
Its a little sad (to this grandparent), but inevitable that grandchildren grow up; they cant stay little and cute and impulsive forever.
Maybe Beverly and I will live long enough to spoil another generation.
Looking back, it doesnt seem so long since they all started grade school. Then, before we knew it, most were in high school. Hudson graduated two years ago, and this year we had two more, Olivia and Noah.
Two more years well have five of the six in college, after our twins, Alayna and Emma, graduate high school. Then, it will be only Maddox at home down the block.
For a long time I didnt think much about the grandkids growing into adulthood, and it kind of caught me off guard. Soon Noah will be off to K.U. for pre-med and Hudson will go to Washington, D.C. in late August to spend his fall semester of Lubbock Christian University in a work-and-learn program hes taken by politics and history. Olivia will spend a year in Roswell at a community college, then likely enroll at a Christian school in Dallas.
We walked through the fairgrounds Thursday afternoon, with Emma along, and visited the Baby Barnyard.
On leaving we walked by where the four little horses used to grind out their circle every evening.
Just for a few seconds I could see a little red cowboy hat bobbing up and down keeping time to the modest gait of a pony, atop a smallish dark-haired boy with a big I love this smile.
