Suzassippi's Lottabusha County Chronicles

From the moment that we draw our first breath
We are thrust into a world that's unfamiliar and unrelenting.
Until our breath of life ends at death
Is a balance of joy, sorrow, and repenting.
From the first warmth of Mother's arms wrapped around us
And the strength of Daddy's hands as he tried to ground us,
The road is full of twists and bends,
Some beginnings and some ends.
Until the day we are lowered into earth
You're still in this old trucker's prayers for what its worth.

Though this life has its share of gloom and doom
That's made up for by the morning sun and the mesquite trees when they bloom.
It's true there's nothing but barbed wire between the plains of Texas and the North Pole;
There ain't nothing in the winters but wind and blowing cold.
Out on the plains and still in growing pains,
A young farmer took his wife and baby girl to live a life tilling earth
And you're still in this old trucker's prayers for what it's worth.

He worked from dawn to dark in those fields
Watching those dust devils dance and whirl.
Work released its grip once the sunlight yields
And he headed home to his pretty wife and two baby girls.
The sight of them had thrilled him from the moment of their birth,
Still, they are in this old trucker's prayers for what it's worth.

Time moved on filled with work and joy
And in another year when day was done
He would hurry home to that baby boy.
Hold his wife and children close until the morning sun,
Then rise again like that sun to work the earth
And from that tractor seat his prayers, too, went up to meet the sky, for what that's worth.

The day came when those babies grew up,
Left his home and made their own,
Walked their paths and sowed their fields,
Knew love and loss and love again, 
Felt joy and hope and sometimes pain.
But through it all they knew the worth of that old farmer's prayers
And how much he loved his wife and children and all his young heirs.

And to this day they are all still in this old trucker's prayers, 
For what it's worth.

 ©️ SCWALLEN, 12/24/2025.

This time of the year is hard for me now, but it helps me to have empathy with others, whose lives are hard all the time. I associate Christmas for the most part with family, and extended family and the memories I have of those times, from my earliest memories as a child until the last Christmas with Mother, after Daddy died. It has never been the same for me since. I am grateful for still having Randy and J in my daily life. I am grateful to still have my sister and brother and nieces and their families in my life. I am grateful to still have my cousins in my life even if all these are long distance relationships. The loss of Aunt Ginger, and the mother of a long-time friend, and a young colleague from my time at the University, all in the past few months, were reminders that we should not take anything for granted.

As I often do, I reflect over the past year and its happenings when we near the ending of one and the beginning of a new one ahead. I put it in the category of “country philosophy” because so many of the important lessons I learned was living a relatively simple life in the rural spaces of north central Texas. While I do not remember what we were discussing when my brother sent his message “you are still in this old trucker’s prayers, for what it’s worth,” it resonated deeply with me.

This has been a difficult year for us in so many ways, but I cannot really complain. We have everything we need and a good deal of what we want. I have done my best to quit obsessing over things I cannot control and just do each day what I am able to do or want to do.

For all of you and your families, I wish you the very best the new year can bring. Not all change is good, nor is all change bad. It is just change and we figure out how to cope with it or change it in a different direction or at least, do the best we can. A little humility can go a long way to helping us manage. We should never take ourselves too seriously to have fun.

Sometimes, younger Suzassippi comes back to remind me of that.