Aunt Pat

Aunt Pat (that is what we call her even though she is so much more and technically is an aunt to none of us) invited us down to her farm today to see her neighbor's newborn lambs. Aunt Pat is actually the sister to Jim's Aunt Linda. Their family motto is the more the merrier. Jim's parents, brother, sister, nieces and nephew, Linda's two daughters, son-in-law, grandchildren, two friends from long ago and their granddaughter all joined us at Pat's farm. We ascended her tree house, rode her homemade teeter totter, climbed into her barn loft, tested her swing set, scratched her cats, and explored her play houses. Yes. It's plural. Pat's farm brought out the kid in all of us. After she shared all these treasures with us, she brought us over to her neighbor's to see the lambs.

We bottle fed two lambs, fed the sheep, and attempted to hold as many babies as would let us. As they fled the too-quick reaches, they kicked up dust that sparkled down on us through the light given by tiny windows above. We were filthy and smelly, but none of us cared. Every single one of us bore a smile from ear to ear.