Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Goodbye Alice

I am an idiot.  Let's just start this entry out with total honesty.  I am a total, blithering idiot.  There you have it.

Mom's journal entry today explained that an important part of my life is going away.  I knew that Alice was for sale.  Dad's half-heartedly tried to sell her a couple of times.  I never took him seriously.  He priced it out of most folks' range.  She'd be around forever.

I helped haul hay with this tractor.  I could run this tractor through any task put before me.  I could pull huge logs out of the deep hollers, knowing it was going to flip over, with dad standing on the back behind me saying, "Keep her goin' Sis, you're doing great!"  I believed him whole-heartedly.  I knew I wouldn't flip over on Alice, and I trusted my Daddy.

I would haul hay in the 100+ heat, sick as a dog, because I had come home drunk as a teenager.  All I had to do is drive, but it was punishment enough.  What a rude awakening.

We had a family reunion this year.  A kid wanted to drive a tractor, and Dad had them all lined up in the pasture, so the shop would be empty for eating and visiting.  This small child picked the John Deer, but I talked him into riding Alice.  "You don't want to ride THAT little thing...let's ride the POWERHOUSE!" I told him.  He bought into it, and we took a spin around the pasture.

The John Deer is fine.  It's modern and handy and great.  Blah Blah Blah.  I'll never accept it as Alice's replacement.  Never.  I read that entry and cried like a damn baby.  My girls couldn't understand why I was crying.  I told them that it was stupid to cry for a tractor, but that I couldn't help it.  They said it wasn't stupid, and Monica even brought me a roll of toilet paper to blow my nose, while I sat on the back porch with a cigarette crying like an idiot.

I knew it was for sale.  Mom told me it was probably sold tonight when I picked up the girls.  I was OK.  I saw it in writing on her journal, and broke down.  Damn, I'm an idiot, but I warned you of that when you started reading this entry.

I love you Alice.  Goodbye.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would cry too

Anonymous said...

aw big girls cry too

Anonymous said...

Awwww,  I don't care what anyone says....inanimate objects have a way of becoming part of our lives and memories. It was a special part of your life....time spent with your dad and Alice was just as precious as any other. So, I say, grieve your loss any way you want....thankfully you will have those great memories to cherish! ((((cotton-pickin hugs))))

Anonymous said...

I had a teenhood so much like yours!!  I'd be recovering from a night of drinking/toking and then be ordered to plow, disk, fertilize, combine for a full ten hours.  Maybe you and I are both getting to an age where we can look back on those times with a smile.

xo,
Russ

Anonymous said...

It's always hard to let go of the things you loved as a child.  Bless you.  -  Barbara

Anonymous said...

Hey I understand where you're comin' from. If my father ever tried to sell the Nova, I'd resort to Grand Theft Auto (not the damn video game) to keep anyone else from owning it.

Anonymous said...

I totally understand.  It's so hard to let go of some things.  So sorry for your loss.

Lori