We were in the car after a long day, both of us exhausted. He was on the phone with a friend through the speakers, and they were talking about life, work, stress… all of it.
At one point his friend joked, “Man, marriage must be tiring.”
Without even thinking, he said, “Nah. Marriage isn’t tiring. Life is tiring. My wife is the part that makes it worth it.”
I froze in the passenger seat.
He kept driving like he didn’t just shift my entire world with one sentence.
Later that night I asked him if he really meant it.
He looked at me confused and said,
“Of course. You’re not my responsibility. You’re my reward.”
And I swear, in a world where people talk about marriage like it’s a burden…
He talks about it like he won the lottery.
And that’s all the reassurance I’ll ever need.
ICE officers stopped by our farm yesterday.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face. “See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.” Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming.
I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull.
And with every step, that bull was closing in fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
My wife hasn’t said “I love you” back in months.
This morning I finally noticed.
I asked her why.
She didn’t raise her voice, didn’t argue, and didn’t list everything I’ve done wrong…
She just said: