MonoMonday--"Something that makes you smile"....

Although I've lived in cities most of my adult life, I grew up in the country. While we didn't live on a farm, I could see farms off in the distance in 3 of the 4 directions looking out from our house. These farms were all owned by various members of the same family: the parents to the East, the bachelor son to the South, and a nephew to the West! The other 2 sons also had farms, but further away than we could see from our place. The bachelor son (Ben) was the one who sold an acre of land to my dad and mom to build their house on just before I was born. As we got older, Ben was very patient & kind with my brothers and I when we'd walk on over to visit with him--we'd ask him what was in the barn & he'd show us the inside of the barn. "How does the tractor work"? ---he'd explain it. "What's this for"?--& he'd explain when and why you'd use the big discs out in the field.  And he always let us pet his cats. In the winter he'd put the plow on his tractor and plow the deepest of the snow off the top of the drive then call our dad to bring us over to go sledding, as he had a really long, sloping driveway that was perfect for that!  Ben was always smoking cigars, and when my older brother was about 10, he talked non-stop about how he was going to smoke cigars when he got older. So one evening we all walked over to Ben's with my dad; my dad told Ben how my brother was going to smoke cigars. "Is that so"? says Ben. My dad says: "I don't see why he has to wait. Maybe you could light one for him so he could smoke it now." Ben says sure, he could do that. So he lit one up and handed it to my brother, who took a few puffs--coughing really badly--but he valiantly tried, again and again. Then we headed home. About half way there my brother was laying on the side of the road, holding his stomach, retching and moaning. My mom was furious, but my dad said "Well, I can pretty much guarantee that he won't be smoking when he gets older."  Point taken! Ha! 
Having grown up around farms, when I see one they always make me smile, as they speak to me so eloquently of friendship, endurance, tradition, heritage, strength, kindness, hard work, and family!  :))