Hard Work - Always Worth it

I had one of those "first time ever" experiences today. It's something many people will probably never experience in their lifetime. I had hoped I wouldn't actually. The opportunity had been offered many a time but I had reluctantly turned it down many times. Then today I decided I wouldn't refuse especially because my brothers were gone and the help was needed. With a little instruction from my father and a lot of coaxing I made the journey over to the base of our backhoe and opened the door. For those of you who are unfamiliar with large construction equipment, a backhoe kind of like a tractor except it has a long arm and a bucket/scoop to dig into the ground. I'm not one to like the bouncing about inside heavy machinery especially with no supervision and little to no knowledge about how to run it. Who knows what could happen with me in control. But I trusted in my dad's confidence in my abilities and so there I was sitting inside the equipment my dad loved.

I managed to get it in neutral and turn the key to get it started. I noticed thankfully that the front scoop was planted firmly in the ground and so I pulled a few levers until I figured out how to pull it off the ground. I drove the backhoe slowly but shirley to the gravel pit behind our house where my dad was planting trees in the mud. I got it to the general area he wanted me to work in and then turned it off. I wasn't going to do anything without a little more instruction. I was nervous enough as it is. He told me what he wanted me to do...basically scrape away rows of dirt and dead trees from about a half acre of ground. When I brought the contraption to the end of my first row I tested all of the levers and arms until finally I thought I had it figured out! Then I went for it. To my surprise the first row went quite smoothly. The next row on the other had I dug into the dirt to far and then I tried to smooth it out. Let's just say I left some bumpy areas for my dad to fix.

I saw my mom drive by to talk with my dad who was still planting trees. Later she told me how happy and proud my dad was that I was there driving and working the backhoe. I happened to be the first of all his daughters to brave it. I had refused up to this point. For anyone who knows my dad he can be a work-a-holic in some people's opinion. He works all day and then he comes home and works all night. The thing that's different about his work and that of many other people is that he never does it alone. Work generally brings people away from home and therefore away from family. In my family it is very different. He never works alone because we are all there working along side him. Not all of us at the same time necessarily, but throughout the days and weeks we all get our opportunities. I see it as a family legacy he learned as a child from his father that he has passed down to us, his children. With my dad's own business working in heating and electrical it has afforded him to instil in us a valuable lesson. Hard work is always worth it. Especially when that work is done on behalf of someone else. I can see in my own life how this hard work has blessed me with great things. Good grades, an effort to do my best at everything I do, perseverance and endurance to get the job done can all be brought back to being taught to work hard. As I sat there bouncing around in the backhoe I realized why I was there helping out and not inside the house watching some show or reading some book, I saw a need and felt a desire to help fill it. That desire didn't come from nowhere, it started when I was a child and I was taught to value hard work and helping people. It's something of great worth my dad and mom have taught me and they were taught by their parents. It's something I to hope to instill in my children. Hard work is always worth it.