A Simple Kind of Man

If you don't recognize the title, it is a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. And a wonderful anthem for the homesteader. One homesteader in particular would be my husband.


As a modern day homesteader he is lacking, but only because of time restraints and working outside of the home. No complaints from me there {ok maybe a few, but I get over that easily. ugh, I mean in a couple of days}

My husband is a simple kind of man. No not in the intellect department. There he blows everyone else I have met away. He came from a dirt poor family, literally living in motels and cars growing up, to earning a full scholarship to KU medical School. He has never known the benefit of privilege before. So falling in love with an middle class girl, surprised him and made him feel like the middle class children were spoiled. {Well I did have my own room in the same house for 15 years. I had a tv in said room and didn't share a bed with a sibling}

When his family was able to move from Denver, they came to a little town in Kansas called Rock. There he was beat up and called many names for being a long haired city kid. He got into more fights then he cares to admit to. Country kids can be just as cruel as city kids, the only difference is they rarely do it in front of the grown-ups.

His parents were and still are physical laborers. From them he learned work ethics and that you could never trust that anything would just be handed to you. You had to earn it. Soon there small house turned into a small farm with over 200 chickens and a calf that thought he was a dog. Sleeping on their porch and trotting off after them to the mail box and such. {having that many chickens around still hadn't taught him how to dress one out}

His father and uncle were bikers. The typical 1960's variety. His love of all things straight lined and circle {this would include mathematics} came from this exposure. He was working on them by the time he was 14 years old. It wasn't until later, after we met that he went to school for motorcycle repair, graduating top of his class by the bye.

Unfortunately he did find comfort in illegal drugs. This was when we met. At that time I could have cared less. I had no intentions of being with this man seriously. I was depressed and drunk. It was all good. But then I became pregnant, and things changed. Despite the drug addiction, he attempted to do the right thing. But it wasn't good enough for me and I gave him an ultimatum. It took almost a full year for him to clean up and stay clean, before our relationship could continue. And I was delighted to discover what this man was truly like.

He is more then just a wonderful father and husband. He cares deeply about his family and loyal to a fault with his friends. He is perfect, for me. We married 4 years ago. I should say I was married by proxy. One day he came home and asked that I sign something for insurance. I signed and the next day he came home and informed me that the HR at the motorcycle shop he works at has married us. Every girls dream wedding.

He is a simple kind of man. He wants only the love of his family, his dream job of fixing and building motorcycles, and a home on the range, peaceful and full of physical distraction. The lust of money is not in him, the want of desirables has never been in the forefront, he is happy and content with his world {though he would rather have less politics in the work place, he just wants to be left alone to do what he does best}

These past 11 years with him has shown me so much more then what I learned in the 18 years without him. For that I am grateful, and a mushy girl.