Thursday, January 17, 2013

Life in My Dad's Eyes

Its calving season on the Neely farm and things aren’t starting out so hot – we have already lost two of my brother’s AI calves (and I wasn’t about to be the one to tell Clem). This didn’t make for a very happy papa but the thing about my dad – it may have been 10 degrees and freezing drizzle outside, he might be running on 3 to 4 hours of sleep, and the calf may have never made it no matter what –but he always takes the blame for the calf not making it.

Lesson 1: Never blame anyone or anything else – if you have the power to make a difference and you don’t take action that is worse than making a failed attempt.
 

So gates have not always been my best friend. I have managed to pull one back into my face and gave myself two black eyes. The other day when trying to move a cow calf pair through the barn, I got my arm stuck between two gates. And the list goes on. Every time an incident like these occur I get told: “You got to be smarter than the gate.”  For as sarcastic and blatantly obvious that statement may seem; it’s true.

If I would have thought through it and pushed on the stuck gate and instead of pulling it towards me; it wouldn’t have been able to “whack” me in the face.  If I would have only been moving one gate at a time instead of juggling opening and shutting 3 gates at the same time my arm would have never got stuck.

Lesson 2: Think before acting – this doesn’t just apply to gates but to life in general. How will "this" action affect the people around me and/or myself?

In high school my life was consumed by horses and barrel racing. There were very few days I would not be found riding a horse.  Just like any sport and any athlete there were the days I would come out on top and days when I would have bruises up and down my shins from hitting barrels. Those days when I would win – my dad was always there to make sure I stayed level headed – same goes for on the days things didn’t go as planned.

Lesson 3: Humbleness – We might be having the best day ever, but the person next to us might not be so fortunate - we have to keep them in mind when it comes to our actions and words of how great our day has been.
 Through the ups and downs, twists and turns, I know the one person who I can always count on for some good life advice.