My Heart Is Full!

It is 4:45 am Wednesday July 5, 2017 and I reach over and turn the alarm off before it goes off at 5:00. I have laid awake for the last 2 hours and it is time to get going to the fair grounds. I reset the alarm for 6:30 so that Kris will wake up for work on time and I quickly get dressed and leave the room so I do not wake her. 

Faith and I load a ice chest bag of drinks and head for the fairgrounds. The forecast is for 100 degrees and it has already been hot the last three days while we have been at the fairgrounds. Now the Big Joe on the radio says 106 by weeks end. Welcome to fair week.

By 6:00 we are waiting in line to unload and before you know it the pig is vet checked, weighed and in his pen. He made weight at 226 pounds. He is smaller then we wanted but the heat wave in June really slowed him down. The day is spent watching for me and working for Faith. 

On a normal year I would be helping at the scale then setting up for beef weigh in and then helping with beef. On a normal year I would then help take down the beef walk way and set up for the next days swine show. On a normal year I would being running around in the heat working my but off.

This is not a normal year and I have better then normal friends in my corner. The auction committee keeps me away from the hot hard work as a way to love and protect me against my own problem, you know the Parkinson's thing. I spend the day instead running errands doing stuff for the Fair Board that I was just appointed to and visiting. Dickie Hall keeps me very entertained. 

Faith spends the day clipping pigs, teaching others to clip pigs and washing a lamb. No she does not have a lamb but her buddy Belle does and there are far to many giggle opportunities for them to miss. She is a hard worker.  

Tuolumne County All Stars doing the Flag Ceremony.
There is my Faith raising the American flag.

Teaching Maryn how to clip her pig.

Duke the pig.

Suddenly its Thursday and it is Swine show day. I am announcing again and this year working with Bailey Orpurt. My sister Sharon is right there busting her groove moving pigs all over the barn. Faith makes market and does not do so well in showmanship. She is all smiles as Duke is going to the auction.

Showmanship. I love this picture Maria Hines.

Each day of the fair has its different events and with it comes the chance to see old friends who return for the shows. I am the announcer for the sheep show and the beef show so I am blessed with a spot to sit and see all my old friends. Before you know it we are setting up for auction and having the chance to see old friends that I showed with.

Cleaning up for the auction.

Saturday night leaves me amazed at the community. Early in the day I give the exhibitors a challenge to clean up and set up their party just like RA used to and the kids do a great job. Faith leads the Auction in the Pledge of Allegiance and Savannah Wittman sings the National Anthem. What a way to start the show. The fire works this night will belong to the buyers. They spend over $360,000 that evening and Faith sells Duke for $15.00 a pound. UNBELIEVABLE!!

Hugging Tanner one last auction night as his leader.
 He was a wonderful President for our club. 

The Four Amigos!

There are many things in this world that bring me joy but none more then my kids. 

A hug from dad. This kid is a hard worker and it does not go unnoticed. Thank you James Smith.

My last swine group. These little wiper snappers brought me so much joy and in the end many tear

Tuolumne Pioneers win the Herdsman Award.

One of the greatest parts of the fair is living life with old friends. We all grow up but so many of us come back with our kids. Below are some of those I showed with who are now raising their kids at the fair.

Jeff and Ryder Wittman

Paula (Wittman) Shane & Sarah Marick

Heather ( Thomasson) & Kendall

The night ends and I cant help but think about all I have seen and heard. My old swine leader was at the fair, many old friends and I had the chance to make so many new friends.

Sunday comes to soon. It is my last day. As I walk in I can feel it slipping away. Faith has taken over my job of organizing pigs for the Round Robin show and Nick has taken over moving them. I know it is for the better as today my legs are a mess from the Parkinson's. I have kept my challenges to myself as good as I can but my friends know and they see the little signs, they know about the leg cramps I have been waking up too and they know that I have not slept well due to headaches. They see me stumble and even when I try to hide the shaking hands they know what I am doing. Retirement from 4H is coming soon and I know it is for the best. 

The hard part is not really leaving as I know I will be back as a parent and as the Vice President of the Mother Lode Fair Board. However, as a leader you have many hours of working with the kids and parents and relationships are formed. I will miss that. I will miss telling the large tall tales and watching their faces as they believe me. I will miss the giggles, tears and corny jokes. I love them all.

God made kids that way you know. The bible says:

Matthew 18:5

And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

God has shown me through this program that all kids need us and we need all kids. He has allowed me to work with the blind, deaf and special needs children. I have watched a child go from hiding behind their mother to becoming a wonderful speaker. I have members who went to college and those who can make submarines with their bare hands. I LOVE THEM ALL!

Sunday ends with my club honoring me with a wonderful belt buckle and so many nice things said.  I hug so many my arms ache. I tell every one of those kids that I love them. AND I DO! I get hugs and kisses from old friends. The biggest gift of the day is when that stubborn old Dick Hall tells me he loves me and tells my wife I am a good guy. Do I cry? YUP! Grown Men do! 

Then its time to walk away. I hug my three country girls from the Sibley family and their brother ropes me one more time. Then he ropes Emily the new Swine leader. The torch is passed. I take Kris' hand and walk away. There is a lump in my throat and a smile in my heart and a beautiful woman on my side.

I won't miss the laughter as it is in my head like the sounds of the river as it winds it way through Kennedy Meadows. I wont miss the memories because each night they flash though my mind like lightning from a passing Sierra mountain storm. I wont miss the friends because they will forever be carried in my heart like a leaf softly floating in a fall wind storm.

What I will miss are the moments. Those moments when a child needs a quick word of encouragement. I will miss terrorizing new parents with made up stories and rules that dont really excist. I will miss faces and words. I will miss the little things that make each day different and special.

But I know that somewhere it is written in time and that time will be remembered by others and the stories will be shared and retold through the years and they will go in different directions and travel with others on different journeys.They will be my stories and our stories. Stories of a special time and a special place. Soon the journeys will come together as one and the stories will become one story.  a story that we will tell our grand kids. We will tell them of a  special place that lives in our hearts and it will go on with me as I follow........ My Journey.

'Cause you are the one light that shines on me

Without your love God knows where I'd be

Lost without a prayer

                                                            Somewhere way out there

My soul would turn to dust

Heaven help me

If I ever lose your love

A Fair To Remember

Editors Note:

As many of you know My Journey has been on a short break while I have worked to recapture some energy and finish out a school year. Tonight, in honor of the Mother Lode Fair, I am taking a quick trip back to my childhood and recapturing some of the fine moments that I enjoyed in my life. I hope you can sit back and enjoy a bit of 4-H/FFA history as I take a stroll back in time when life seemed a little simpler.

When I walked in that meeting room in 1974 I never dreamed that the new group my parents had signed me up for would become a family for the next 43 years. There were familiar faces from school like Peggy Hecht and there were also many new faces and names to get to know. Little did I realize that those faces and names would be forever etched in my memory and would travel a life time with me as I made My Journey.

It is a hot July day in the mid 1970's I am standing in the show ring and this year I will not be taking my pig to the auction a sad event that will repeat itself for several more years to come. But there are still so many things to do. I watch sheep showmanship, adult showmanship the beef show and of course there is barn duty. While I am sad that my pig will not go to auction a buyer is found so not all is lost. The best part is I have made so many friends and I have seen showman in other species that I have heard are legends in their own time. Names like Sonka, Fitch, Woods and Fraguero.

What amazes me to this day is the number of friends that I make....LIFELONG FRIENDS! These friends to this day carry me during difficult times, love me when I am unlovable and support my crazy activities that I do in the community.

 Through the years the faces change at the fair as members age out and new members come along but the story is the same. A story of kids working together to help each other learn a project, raise an animal and possibly win a ribbon. There are nights sitting on the lawn giggling with Mary Macon, playing cards with the Gritz's and of course there is always time for a visit with RA our loving FFA Adviser from Sonora High. Even though I am a 4-H member I am part of his family.

Our leaders teach us the importance of animal care and always being responsible for the care and feeding of the stock we are raising. They must be fed, watered, kept warm in the winter , cool in the summer and of course you cant help but to sneak them little treats here and there.

Life is like that isn't it? I mean God does the same for us. The bible says:

Proverbs 27:23
Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds;

God takes care of us and we are to tend to many flocks. Flocks of animals, flocks of people and of course our families and communities. That is what 4-H teaches us too. That we must use our Head, Heart, Hands and Health to take care of us, our community, our country and our world.

Kendra White Thompson

Christy Woods Schauffel

Christy 

Here is my picture form 1976. The fair was a magical wonderful time of year. The smell of maure still brings a smile to my face. I used to beg my parents to let me spend the night but they never agreed. Thank you for reminding me of the happy care free days. 

Brenda Farguero.

Erin Fraguero DeMercurio

While my sisters and I enjoyed the fair is was a lot of work and a lot of work for our parents too. They had to keep us clean fed and ready for the show. There were a lot of long hot days and so many worked so hard. The auctioneers Dave and Tom Fraser saw that our animals sold for top dollar. No one ever got the bidder higher then those tow brothers. Gerald Engler was always there to cheer us kids on.

Kathy Thompson Stegall 1985-1986

Gary Stegall 1985-1986

Melanie Brisco Hamilton

George Hamilton

My favorite memory of the fair was the year my brother was introduced to the girl showing rabbits. That sweet smile and incredible laugh is now my sister in law. See 4-H is awesome!

Jackie Kirk Martinez and Melanie Hamilton in costume showmanship.

Jackie Kirk 
I can still hear the auctioneers  and smell the straw. I have so many great memories of great times.

Judy Wilson
I remember washing my lamb with woolite. We would bring the camper trailer down and stay the week at the fairgrounds.

All too soon my days as a member ended and my days as a Daddy started. My wife Krishna would join me as we worked with names like Smales, Moore, Hines, Leslie, Wittman and Kirkwood.  There would be years of laughter and tears with my own little 4H members and my kids. As a leader I have washed away many tears and cut hands. At the end of each fair at 5:00 there are first year members crying as they say good bye to the animal for one last time. I give them the same old speech. The speech about how they are doing something many can't do and that is providing food for families. Then at 6:00 there are the good bye to my senior tears. As my members graduate I walk them out of the barn one last time. I thank them for their hard work and tell them how proud I am that I live in a community that they have worked so hard to bless.

These kids give food to the hungry, chop wood for the cold and clean the homes of the elderly. They have raised money to fight childhood disease, raised money for the homeless and they have cried as cancer has taken the life of their leaders. They use their Head to learn about life, their Hands to serve their community, their Health to learn how to help the ill and they give their Hearts fully.

Faith Hamilton

Emily Hamilton, Faith Hamilton and Sara Merick

Faith Hamilton

Danny Hamilton

Emily Hamilton 

Cindy Ingraham - Wozney

Driving to the judge

I would miss it all if I did not mention this great friend. We met through 4-H and some 40 years later she is one of my most special friend in the world and I love her friendship.

Well there it is 43 years of my life. This Sunday it will all come to an end. This Sunday at 5:00 I will one last time give my speech to first year members this time it will be a little harder. Then at 6:00 I will make one last slow walk out of the barns as a 4-H member/leader. I will take the thoughts I have in my HEAD of members past and present and the laughter and tears we have shared. I will carry in my HANDS the years of calluses from building pens and mending broken toes. I will continue to improve my HEALTH so that in some way I can continue to serve my community and finally I will hold deep in my HEART the memories of so many days with so many wonderful people.

Then one day when my body has slowed and my mind is weak and forgetful all those memories will be safe in my heart and will travel with me wherever God takes me on My Journey.