Growing Up on the Farm

I grew up on a farm in the southwest corner of Minnesota. There were four of us mom, dad, my older sister and me. My parents never divorced; not one time did I see them drunk. I did see my father with a hangover once. It was a Sunday morning and we were not at church, which was a rare occurrence. Dad came down from upstairs to get a pan from the cupboard. He looked at us, and with a sheepish smile said, "I have the 24-hour flu" and back to bed he went. My parents had been to a wedding the night before. It took a while for me to figure out why he had the "24-hour flu." Yes, they drank, but were truly "normies."