Some Days

A couple lifetimes ago, Anne and I played on an indoor soccer team that was made up of mostly 40- something-year-old “soccer moms”. Very few of us had ever played in high school, much less at the college level. The teams we played against, though, were younger, more experienced, had fewer children, and took themselves way too seriously. Indoor soccer is an extremely fast-paced game and defeats can be demoralizing as the score can get racked up quickly. We were proof of that.

At some point during the season, we decided to change what it meant for us to win. We no longer focused on the fact that we were losing (by a lot) and decided that if we could keep the opponent’s lead under 10, we’d consider it a win. The game instantly became fun again - and we totally confused the other teams as we high fived and congratulated each other on keeping each loss somewhat under control. Games that were nip and tuck, whether we would lose by 9 points or our self-imposed limit of 10, evoked lots of cheering from our kids and spouses on the sidelines. Caught up in the enthusiasm they’d yell “Go blue!!! Keep it under 10!!!You can do it!!!!!!!!”. A referee once asked me “you know the point is to win right?” and my response to him was “no, the point is to enjoy the game.”

That’s how I feel about farming. As long as we can pay the bills, I like to think we are doing just fine. No other job is so physically challenging and pays so little. It is, in fact, a terrible way to “make a living” - but it’s a wonderful way of life and of being alive. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 Learning to enjoy each day, and to appreciate all that’s going well, is the real challenge because in livestock farming, it’s way too easy to focus on what just went stupendously awry. My mantra is “every day it’s something and some days it’s everything.”

As the season closes in on 2023, I think about our fans on the sidelines all those years ago and I’m reminded that success isn’t so much about winning the game as it is about enjoying it all along the way.