When One Door Closes...

My mom always said, when one door closes a window opens. Yesterday was a strange day of happenings...

At 3:00 a.m. as I am leaving for the barn, my 6 year old comes to me to tell me she can't sleep. I explain that 3:00 a.m. is no time to be up for little girls. She then explains to me that "sometimes little kids have bad dreams"... I start to say "bad dreams", she cuts in "I know, are not real". So I tuck her in to bed with her dog Kenai and some cartoons, then head off to the barn.

I start milking with a million things on my mind. The compressor is not working right (can't cool my milk fast enough); bills; 5 different places to go before chores in the afternoon and how many things I need to pick up at those places; I am taking Tuesday (today) off and need to explain all the things that are different from usual to the guy milking for me; wondering if my little one made it back to sleep...etc.

As the morning helper is coming down the middle aisle I stop him to remind him that the cow in the pen is treated and how to care for her. He looks at me and says..."if she is treated why are you milking her in the line?" I scream for him to cut the power to the milkers and run to grab the unit off the cow. You see...treated means she as been given antibiotics and gets milked into a special bucket that we dump her milk from. Not a good start to the day...milk price is so low that the bills continue to stack up while I keep getting notices of "Thank you for paying on you bill, but we still need you to pay more!"

I called my milk representative and the milk hauler. Mind you it is just after 4:30 in the morning. Oh well, can't have the hauler pick up the milk without it being tested for drugs. If I had contaminated the milk haulers truck...I would be responsible for ALL the milk in the semi.

I feel horrible at this point, but keep on going. I call my husband at 5:00 to get him up for his day and let him know what happened. My husband works off the farm as a manager and is supposed to be gone for the next 3 days doing inventory for his field reps.

He is supportive and I feel worse. Keep on going I tell myself. As I continue I decide I can't go on without heading to the house for a bathroom break...no potty in the barn. I head home and guess who greets me? Yep, my 6 year old. Now she not only can't sleep, but she is hungry. I explain that I have to get back to work and have her dad give her some cereal. I once again head out to the barn.

My milk representative (Dairy Farmers of America: DFA) shows up, again another supportive person and I feel that much worse! She tells me she will know if I need to dump my 3000+ pounds of milk or not in about 10 minutes. I have to tell you that is one long ten minutes! She comes in and lets me know my tank is not "hot". Hallelujah! I feel GREAT now! I finish chores and head home.

Just after I get home my husband comes home for a few items he needed to pick up. His first inventories are local so it is no big deal. I find my daughters are both fast asleep and I decided to take a quick nap. After I get up, my 6 year old comes out. Great timing, the day is getting better...or so I think.

My 16 year old daughter gets up, my mom calls and says she is coming over to help me and I explain that I have to leave...5 places to go with about 15 things to pick up. My mom comes to help me with laundry and dishes (without her I think we would go nude). Just as I hang up with my mom, my husband walks in.

I say, Hi! I didn't expect to see you again. He says "I'm done". I say..."done, done with what?" He replies with his job. The president of his company is waiting outside to take his company car, cell phone and laptop. It turns out due to the economy, he is being laid off.

Now what!?! I know I mentioned large bills and low income for the farm earlier, but now no income for the personal stuff? Wow!

Over the weekend we had borrowed a baler from a friend...it promptly broke down while my husband was using it. We are told that the part is probably going to be very expensive. Since that happened I made sure to call our friends and let them know why they would not be able to call my husband and give them an alternate phone number to reach him.

My friend says to me what are you going to do now? I say...When God closes one door he opens a window. Her reply...Where's the window?

Actually I laugh at this point because I don't know where the window is. I know that no matter what happens...if we lose the farm, horses, cows, house, whatever...we will still have each other.