Karen and I committed ourselves to taking Fridays off, if she went into remission. When she passed, I considered a great many things about how my “new normal” would be. I’m still figuring those things out, but with the support of friends, I decided to make Fridays “Karen’s Day.” Every Friday I do things around the house that she would want. Quite often I do work with a tractor.
Karen loved her tractors, but that wasn’t always so. When we were first clearing our property preparing for our new house we bought a little Husqvarna garden tractor off my parents. Karen thought it was a silly purchase, and humored me. We hauled it out to the property and with some effort we managed to get it to the spot destined to have our house.
I remember hopping on the tractor, my tractor, and doing a bit of mowing. Karen asked me to show her how to work all the levers and do-dads and hopped on to give it a try. That’s all she wrote. It became Karen’s tractor, and I barely got a chance to use it hence forth.
Here’s a pic of Karen on her first tractor. This pic was taken before our house was built, and is from the time period where she and I were clearing the site and keeping the weeds mowed.
After we moved into the house we borrowed my dad’s tractor to do a few things. Of course, Karen loved spending time on that too…
And then later, my mom gave us her tractor, and that became Karen’s primary tractor. The Husqvarna became her secondary tractor. Here’s a secret photo of her on her Kubota, taken by one of our game cameras. This is a photo I just found in an old archive of the memory card.
We wanted a bigger Kubota tractor, but put it off to make sure we had enough money to take care of her during her illness. Karen kept saying “more power,” when we looked at various tractors for sale, and considered buying a few different ones. After she passed I bought the one we would have gotten together, and now spend many of my Fridays doing things with it, like she would have wanted. One of my most important projects will be to re-plant her wildflower fields. They didn’t quite take hold correctly, so I’m going to prepare the fields differently than the original planter did. It will be a great project for me.
I’ll continue to post things about Karen. I’m not sure what those things will be, so we’ll find out together.
‘Charlie
I’m glad you shared this, C. And that you found a surprise picture. I thought about you both a lot today and how you were right there for us our first couple days in this house. Makes moving very bittersweet but I’m looking forward to being up there to spend time with you soon.
What a lovely story. Karen looks like a natural on her tractor. I love that Friday’s are Karen’s day. Thanks for sharing.
Loved the blog and pics. You can call on me whenever and whatever feel the need.
The story and pictures are BEAUTIFUL! So happy you have all these wonderful memories to help you through this difficult time. And never forget that Karen is and always will be right there beside you. With Love, Aunt Ceil
Thank you for sharing these beautiful memories and pictures. What a wonderful idea to have “Karen’s Day” and spending time doing what she would have enjoyed. So beautiful. Many wishes of good will as you get through these difficult times.