Richard Inman Corbin married his best friend Sandra Jane Logan October 21, 1962. Sandra had just turned 18 October 3, 1962. Lord, they were kids! Just look at their sweet, fresh faces. Daddy was so little, the tailor had to take in a 21 inch wasted pants so much that his suit pants wrapped around him, on that crisp fall day of their vows. Those kids are my Mamma and Daddy. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. I once asked Mamma if they ever fought much. She kind of giggled as she folded and refolded her dinner napkin and replied “Oh Boo, we never had time to fight.” Daddy grew up a dairy farmer’s son. He remembers waking at 4am each morning to go milk the cows, before walking about a mile for school. He tells all kinds of fun stories about growing up a farm kid. His Aunt Juanita gave him some of her admired iris bulbs one spring day, after Sunday dinner. He carefully planted them on the hillside of the old homestead. I now have some of those very bulbs that a sweet, hard working 8 year old little boy planted in Kirkwood, TN. They smell heavenly and are a delicate lavender with the palest shade of yellow beards. Each spring, as they bloom, I look out my kitchen window and say a little prayer of gratitude for that little boy. Mamma and Daddy went to separate grade schools, but they met when they were in the eighth grade. The Extension Office decided they were going to teach the farm kids other trades. You know, in case the farming thing didn’t quite “work out.” They sent my Daddy, for the day, to the ladies shoe department of locally-owned Parks Belk in beautiful, downtown Clarksville, TN. Well, in marches Sandra Jane for her very first pair of high heel shoes! Yep, that’s how they met ladies and gentleman. There Daddy sat, all of 14 years of age, surrounded by boxes and boxes of ladies shoes and loving every moment of it. The year they married, Daddy combined fescue seed for Mamma’s engagement ring. Daddy didn’t eat lunch a single day of his Senior year of high school. He used his lunch money to pay for their honeymoon. He made his beautiful bride their first bed in shop class. All the while, he was milking those cows early each morning and late every evening. I relish in the stories Mamma and Daddy tell me of their courtship, because it brings me to a time that was hopeful. It was full of expectation. Those two kids married up on that hill top in 1962, not knowing what their life was to become. What they did know was that with their determination, passion and sheer strength they could build a beautiful life together . Farmers and their families are some of the hardest working folks around. They lay their head down at night, tired to the bone. I’m not just talking “didn’t get their full eight hours of sleep in” kind of tired. I mean sun up to sun down kind of tired. Here’s the thing. They lay their heads down each night fully satisfied because of the integrity and passion they have put into their labors. That is worth all the blisters, callouses, sweat and tears of the day. If you have eaten today, please thank a farmer!