The Snore that Sounded Like a Calf

I spoke to my Grandmother yesterday and she told me the snoring story again, which makes me laugh each time I hear it! My grandparents had a 100-acre working and tobacco farm when I was little, and Grandma still lives there. Gramps, bless his soul, passed about 12 years ago, but I love it when he visits me in my dreams.

Anyway, they always had chickens, cows and pigs when we were growing up, and those animals were forever having babies. One night in the summer, Grandma woke up to Gramps snoring loudly and the "cows making such a racket." Try as she may, she was unable to wake him to go check what was wrong with the cows, seems they were bellowing quite loudly with no intention of settling down anytime soon. She said she was also unable to wake my uncle sleeping upstairs, who was probably exhausted after feeding them and doing all the other farm chores that "someone has to do."

Well, after getting up to take care of business, getting a drink of water, and walking around to check things out in the house, she realized that the cows were bellowing in response to the snoring from Gramps. Their bedroom faced the fields and barns, and being the summertime, the windows were all open (there was NO such thing as air conditioning back then). Each time Gramps snored, apparently it sounded like a small calf, which was distressing to the cows as they bellowed their response. It wouldn't stop!

So....she did what every loving farm wife would do: she took out the tape recorder and taped the night music. But then she didn't tell anyone for a long time, at least a year! It just wasn't the "right" time, or the right circumstance. Until....one day it came up in conversation--Gramps' snoring, that is, and he flat out denied that he snored so loudly. Unable to contain herself anymore, she finally confessed to her recording and brought it out for him to hear. I love hearing the laughter in her voice as she recalled how he laughed so hard when he heard his own snoring and the responding cows bellowing that he had tears running down his eyes. He had the best laugh!

It is truly a treat when she tells stories when we talk or visit, and it makes me realize how lucky I am to still have her. It is refreshing to hear her voice and her laugh! As for Gramps, he's still here also, and when he visits me in my dreams, he never speaks, but he always laughs! It's the magical moments like this that help keep me energized....