Honored

It was announced on Thursday evening. "...And the winners of the 2010 Florida Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award are....from Jefferson County..." I think he said our names then, but I didn't hear it. I just heard him start to say Jefferson, and I knew it was us. Tears filled my eyes, I put my hand over my mouth like I was Miss America or something, and I just leaned my head against the Farmer.

I could believe it and couldn't believe it all at once. It is one of those things that you hope will happen, you work incredibly hard for it to happen, but you just can't guarantee it will happen...so then when it happens, you are surprised, you are humbled, you are grateful.

People congratulated us, hugged us, told us we deserved it. We thanked them of course. But I sincerely knew that the couples we competed against were deserving too. The farm families around the country are also deserving. In my opinion, no one works harder than America's farmers and ranchers. So while our names were being called Thursday night, I couldn't help but think of all the names that weren't being called-- the fellow farm families who put food on our tables, just as we do.

We go on to the American Farm Bureau Federation National Conference in January to compete against all the other state winners. It will be an amazing display of a few thousand cowboy hats, Wrangler jeans, bedazzled purses, and a lot of farm talk. We will present our farm, our accomplishments, our goals, our contributions to the industry. Then a man will step up to the microphone and announce, "The winner of the 2011 American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award goes to..."

As they say, somebody's gotta win, right?

To read the press release click here