“I a tough son-of-a-bitch I be, I got a double row of tits, one on each s-i-i-i-d-e!” – old farmer ditty.

Maria and I were in  Massachusetts Sunday morning, heading for Mass MOCA, a museum in North Adams, when I look on my  phone and saw a post Carol  Gulley on her and Ed’s Blog, the Bejosh Farm Journal.

It was early for a post from Carol, and I read Carol’s news that Ed’s  blood sugar was over 600 and they were struggling to bring it under control. She had called in hospice and sounded frightened.

We thought from the blog that Ed was close to dying. That is a very high blood sugar number.

We turned the car around immediately and cut short our brief anniversary celebration – we had a blast on Saturday and Saturday night – and headed for the Gulley farm. When we got there, we found that hospice and the family were successful in bringing his numbers down. He looked weak and was  exhausted.

Ed is on steroids to shrink the size of his tumors, and steroids wreak havoc with blood sugars. It seemed under control when we got there.

We stayed for a few hours, then went home to check on the farm in this intense heat, then went back with some things Carol needed. When we returned to the farm, Ed look weak but much better. On my visits, I sit in a chair next to Ed, and Carol takes care of things in the rest of the house. Ed talks, then sleeps, then wakes up. On longer visits, I bring a book.

We were all a bit shaken today, Ed was thinking of calling his family together to say goodbye.

Then we just talked, he and I. And got into mischief, as usual.

We talk openly and easily and very comfortably. There is no strain and there are no secrets between us, both of us are direct, open to challenge and ideas and at ease with each other.

Still, we didn’t laugh and smile as much as we normally do, that is to be expected under the circumstances. I thought of a way I knew would get him to wake up.

I reminded Ed, as I often do, of a farm ditty he once told me that cracked me up, it went this way, although I can’t do justice to his presentation of it: “I a tough son-of-a-bitch I be, I got a double row of  tits, one on each s-i-i-i-d-e!” He makes fun of my efforts all the time, suggesting a smart ass like me should be able to remember this simply ditty.

Ed would say it when we were joking about being tough and perhaps it is my Dyslexia, but I just could not remember it. Today, I told Ed he shouldn’t even think of leaving the world without teaching me this ditty, and it lit him right up, his big wide smile came back and we got into it.

I tried, then failed, then he repeated it and then I think I got it. Tomorrow, we may tackle the one about the ten indians.

But wait, I asked, why would having a “double row of tits” make anyone tougher. He thought the question was hilarious. You just said it, he said, you don’t have to know what it means. I still don’t get it, but I think I do remember it.

I asked Ed again what the ditty meant, and he laughed again and said he had no idea, all the old farmers said it. The Ed I know popped right up, his sense of humor is as powerful as his creativity. Come and see, I loved this video. The laughter in the background is from Carol and Maria. It was sweet to hear all this laughter. I wanted to share it with  you.