Almost the Farmer's Wife

     When I was around nine years old I was obsessed with Little House on the Prairie books.  I wanted everything that had to do with living on the prairie.  My mother made me the prairie outfit with the bonnet and bloomers.  I had my dad craft me a tin lunch pail from an old coffee can.  I even convinced my mom that by doing my schoolwork by candlelight would improve my grades.  I spent hours in the backyard dreaming of living on a farm.  As time went on, that dream faded and I came to realize that I was more of a city girl than a country girl.  Don’t get me wrong I still love the country and have a great deal of respect for farmers.  One of my favorite places in the world is to visit my friend’s family farm. 

    This past spring I was on the search to find my first teaching job.  One of the first job offers I received was to teach in a small farm town about 3 hours away from the capital city where I currently reside. These days the job market is a tough place even for a teacher.  Thankfully my professor steered me away from taking the position.  Her main concern was that being single could make it difficult to live in such a small town and that I didn’t seem like the farm type of girl. 

      Fast forward 5 months.  An addition to being a teacher, I work part-time at a clothing store.  As I was checking out a customer, the lady at the next register started talking about how she is a principal in a small farm town.  Come to find out she is the principal that interviewed me for the teaching position in that “small farm town”.  She informed me that they filled the position with a new graduate whose boyfriend lives in the area.  I told her that my main concern for not taking the job was that I was single.  She answered me with a slight laugh, “ Oh honey, we like to hire young single teachers so that we can marry them off to the farmers.  Really the whole town would have had you matched up in a few months. “   And that is how I almost became a farmer’s wife :)