I tossed hay today, 400 bails, just enough to cover the horses needs for the winter. The farmer that lives down the road and his family came out for the day and taught me all about how to cut, dry, bail and stack it properly. We bailed it and carted it from the fields to the barn and used his hay elevator to get it into the loft. Two of us unloaded and two of us stacked. We also talked about politics, taxes, schools and comedians.
The last time I tossed hay I was 5 years old and tagging along after my best friend's older brothers. Well I remember hay being tossed at me, but I digress. There was a house fire nearby last night and three out of the four family members that showed up to work with me all day also showed up at 3am to put out the fire. So I was working with hometown heroes doing their everyday best to help their community simply get by. They are unassuming, quick with a joke, strong as oxes and All American.
Dealing with personal injury and traumatic events is not my strong suit but I did become inspired in other ways. Recently I realized that painting in public can be kind of fun and now I am working on some pieces that will be auctioned off at an upcoming festival. The proceeds will go to help a local food bank prepare for the winter. But that's just the start. I then realized if I could do this for one event I could probably do this for many events and raise even more money for charitable groups.
So, I thought I would use this diary space to allow some of you to respond with stories of some of your favorite hometown heroes and how they helped you and or your community get through tough times. A little inspiration can go a long way.