Jay Is Leaving Me

Jay announced yesterday that he will soon be leaving me for his other woman, his "mistress" if you will. This didn't come as a big shock to me, because we've been through this before. He goes to her every year for a couple of months, gets it out of his system, and then returns back to us. No, I don't enjoy it, but what can I do? He has been seeing her before he ever even met me, and yes I have always known about her. I met her on the same day he took me to meet his parents. He grew up with her for goodness sake, so they have quite a history. She is tall, powerful, worth a lot of money and can do things for him that I never can. The kids have come to know her really well, and as they get older, a couple of them are liking her more and more. Chelsea & Austin go see her frequently, and I know Austin really enjoys her. Chelsea now even spends one on one time with her. Ashley is like me though and wants nothing to do with her. Oh, and there's one other thing....

This mistress is our combine.

Yes, Jay's "other woman" is his John Deere combine, and harvest season is upon us. For the next couple of months I refer to myself as close to being a "single parent" as I ever hope to be, and each year I take my hat off to single parents everywhere. You have an amazingly tough job!

Harvest season has always been hard for me, but especially when the kids were little. We lived out on the farm and I was a stay at home mom, with no other adults around all day long. The twins were barely 3 when Austin was born, and it was very hard to take 3 small children anywhere alone, so I was out there by myself most of the time...and this was before cell phones. I love my kids, but when all you have are toddlers and infants to discuss current events with, that means the letter of the day on Sesame Street, or what Blues Clues added up to that day. In other words, your brain quickly turns to mush.

During harvest season Jay and his dad (who farm together) will work 16 hrs a day or more and that's 6 days a week. They take Sunday off unless the weather is uncooperative, and then they have no choice but to work that day as well. I used to literally cry when they had to work on Sundays as well. When the kids were little, he'd leave before they were up, and wouldn't get home until long after they were in bed. Usually one day a week, I'd make up a picnic type meal, or I'd order pizza and load up the kids and take it out to Jay in the field. I'd spread a blanket on the ground and we'd have a quick picnic so the kids could see daddy. Once the girls got into school, Austin rode with Jay in the combine almost daily. He loved it, and always fell asleep in it! That became my errand time. I'd load up a couple of thick blankets and his pillow and blankey and he'd go "farming" with daddy (as he called it). He'd take 3 hour naps out there. That was worth more than gold to me!

Austin is now old enough now that he helps with harvest season. Chelsea too. She loves driving the combine and when she's not helping us, she is over helping her farmer boyfriend with his field work. As I said, Ashley is like me and not a fan of it at all.

I still take meals out to Jay, and once in a while I will ride a round or two with him, but I quickly become bored and can't wait to get out of there. I guess it's the whole "You can take the girl out of the city, but not the city out of the girl" thing or something, but it's just not something I enjoy.

So, within the next day or so my husband will leave me for his mistress. I don't like it, but I put up with it. I mean, I can his attraction to her. She's willing to pull all the stalks out of the ground, rip off the corn or soybeans and put them neatly in the wagon to be taken to town. There's only so much I'm willing to do as far as being a farm wife goes, and that's not one of them.