Carpenter… Harvester… Mechanic… Best of all Father
More stories from Chandra Rice
Cameron Rice kisses his daughter Chandra Rice on the head at her eighth-grade graduation party. Cameron wrestled with Chandra to get cake in her face, but she fought back and managed to get cake on the both of them. In her attached column on her father, Chandra reflects on some of the key words he’s shared with her, including these: “You have more to you than you give yourself credit for,” Rice said.
Chandra Rice reflects, writes
on her father’s example, words
When I look at my dad, I see my protector and my first love. He’s been there for me through thick and thin. Even if he gets on the me, I know he still loves me and wants me to know how important it is for me to do my best. Daddy has shown me that you have to work hard to get what you want. That’s a lesson that has taken me a while to grasp, but I think I’ve got it down.
My dad’s name is Cameron Todd Rice. He’s 40 years old and full of love and hard work. Dad has worked as a carpenter since before I was born 16 years ago. He has also worked with Doug Fields as his boll buggy operator and has been a harvester for three years. Currently, he works at G and J Trucking, and has been one of their mechanics for three years.
But, in the midst of all you do, Dad, you speak these words to me: “You have more to you than you give yourself credit for,” Dad said.
As a harvester you work long hours. It seems this time is even longer than as a cotton module builder, which is where you started out working. In the module builder you sit there, and you use two to three levers that help you pack the cotton into a “solid.” When you work the boll buggy, you are following the stripper, and when they get a full basket that basket will dump into the boll buggy. It usually takes about two baskets to get the boll buggy full, but you don’t have to completely fill the boll buggy. Then, you’ll take that cotton you have in the boll buggy to the module builder.
Oh, and even though it was frustrating at times, you still taught all of this to me. Plus, you’re always willing to share your feelings: “I liked the boll buggy better than I liked the module builder,” Dad said.
Dad has such a great heart, and a sense of humor that’s just amazing. I remember asking him if I could tag along with him to work when he worked as a carpenter. I thought it was so cool and even though he told me “No,” every time, I still never stopped asking.
All I can really say is that when I move out, I don’t know what I’m going to do without my daddy. Maybe that’s why he thinks about that, too. That could explain why he always tells my sisters and me: “I don’t want you to grow up – even though I know you will turn into the beautiful women that I have raised.”
