I sold Paps’s old tractor today. I cried. Bitter tears. I saw them drive away with it on the trailer. I didn’t want to look. It looked so lonely. It felt so bad to see it go. The seat and the steering wheel looked so empty. So very empty. I could hear once again the put, put, puttering as he plowed the garden. Year after year the vegetables he grew were his pride and joy. He grew so many fresh vegetables he became known as the “Vegetable Man”. He sold very little and always took them to the elderly, sick and needy. Ah, but that old tractor was Papa in the form of an old engine and its plows. At times I would have to go sit on its seat and have a good cry. Just to touch it brought me some measure of comfort. In my mind to touch it was like touching him for a brief moment. Now that space in the shed looks empty and void. There will never be another garden plowed with Paps’s old tractor. It will now become refurbished and shown at antique tractor shows. I have a feeling that when it is shown, Papa will be right there smiling and ever so proud of his old tractor made new just like he has been!

Note: Papa is what everyone called my late and beloved husband of 49 yrs and 6 monhts.