We were seated around a living room one evening this spring, mugs in one hand, tissues in the other. Pajamas for sure. We’d flown in and drove in from all over the country for a Bible conference in Chicago, and we sat and talked about the real and the hard.
I looked around with misty eyes and knew it for sure: these are my people.
I was invited into an online bible study years ago with these women who do what I do, from all over the country. We love cows and pigs and farms and ranches, and nearly all of us photograph it and write about it. Some have babies and some don’t, some are graduating kids this year, some are married to farmers and ag teachers and more and some aren’t.
That’s all to say we have a lot in common, and when somebody asks for prayer for the show pig that’s gone off feed, or for the child who’s about to sell his steer, or for the husband who’s still out planting, nobody bats an eye. Because we get it. We are our people.
They've carried me through dark days, through death and emergency rooms, through funerals and hard decisions. They've rejoiced when deadlines are met, when decisions were made, when showmanship was won.
Lately, I’ve thought how important it is to have people who get you. To have your tribe that loves and cares and shows up for you. And to know how different that can look in 2016.
These women and I are scattered from Illinois to Idaho, from South Dakota to Texas. We communicate via text and phone call and blog post. Some of us see each other more regularly, at meetings and shows and conferences.
Maybe your tribe is down the gravel road. Maybe it’s your family. Maybe it’s the farmer next door or the guys you went to college with. I can tell in an instant by my husband’s laugh when he’s talking to his people. The ones that get him.
So take a minute to consider: who are your people? And how have you connected with them lately?
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