The Chimes · 30 September 2000
When the chimes outside our house ring, I remember the farm and the love that was always there when I was a kid. I remember sleeping in the camper, trips to the benjo, and swimming in the irrigation ditch. I remember getting yelled at by Grandpa and eating Grandma’s bread! I remember family. I can still feel the love of that big happy family.
It has been a while since Grandma died and the family sold the farm. I am sure that it was a difficult decision but one that had to be made. It makes me sad to think that I won’t sit at the dining room table with my Aunts and Uncles and cousins eating dinner and talking and laughing. We won’t get to eat Grandma’s good food or hear Grandpa sing. And we kids won’t get to join in the old penny-ante poker games that the grown-ups used to play. Life has moved on. The farm has been sold.
But the love that the farm represents lives on in the lives of my grandparents’ kids and their kids too. My grandparents were simple farmers who not only raised vegetables but a loving, caring family. They left the world no buildings bearing their names. Instead, they built a lasting monument of love — they built a family. The circle of love which started as my grandparents has blossomed to my generation and will continue into the next. Maybe the farm is gone from our family, but the love lives on.
I guess that I don’t need to feel sad when I hear the chimes. I can and will still remember the farm. But I will also remember my grandparents and the love that they gave to their family. I will remember the love they gave to me and I will continue to spread that love. Blow wind and ring those chimes. Those chimes of love.
© 2000 Michael T. Miyoshi
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From Musings of a Mediocre Man published September 2000.
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