Communication Plus

It's always nice to have the youth visit. This 4-H group from Pennsylvania was part of an exchange program with several of our local counties.



Communication. It's so important. I think of uncomfortable, sad, confusing occasions resulting because of its absence. I can remember the time Brad received a phone call to serve as a pall bearer at a funeral. The person on the other end asked if he would serve as a pall bearer for their mother. Brad agreed, no questions asked. After the call we both discussed who this person might be and decided maybe we would recognize people when we got to the service. Brad lost his parents and the genealogy of his family has some holes in it, so occasionally we are in question of our relationship to certain people, and we have no immediate family to ask. We attended the service, he served as pall bearer but because of poor communication, we were never sure for who!

Then there was yesterday. My dad loves animals...dogs, cats, birds, horses, you name it he loves it. A mother Kildee had laid her eggs in our son's driveway and he had placed an old cream can next to it so people wouldn't drive over them. He told my son about the eggs, but no one else. I drove in last week and questioned Newley, our son, if I needed to move the can. He explained the Kildee situation, so I left it. A large group of 4-Hers were coming to our place, destination for their noon meal was our barn. Their route; through Newley's driveway. My dad and I drove up to turn into the driveway to our barn to meet the group. We commented as we drove in the driveway about the crowd that was there, 30 or so people were gathered. Suddenly he asked me, "Where's the cream can?" I had forgotten about it. As we approached, a good protion of the group was standing on the location of the nest. My dad asked one of the 4-Hers about the cream can explaining it was protecting Kildee eggs. One of the boys said he'd moved the can afraid that someone might run over it. Everyone immediately started looking around for the eggs. At the feet of one of the boys the three eggs lay in pieces. I thought my dad was going to cry...I almost did. Everyone felt terrible. The mother bird was screaming and fluffing her feathers. We were all sad...because of poor communication.

This morning I read the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah. Lack of communication left Jacob waiting another 7 years for Rachel's hand. He had to marry Leah, who was older and not his true love, first. I wondered as I read the story if Jacob ever questioned his communication ability asking himself, "Shoot, why didn't I check this out 7 years ago."
As I get older I've learned to never assume anything, don't be afraid to ask questions and life is simpler, happier and more productive if you make communication a priority.