Turning the Last Page on the Calendar

I was at least a week late turning to December on the Bank of McLouth calendar I have on my refrigerator. Nothing unusual in that—I'm not prompt at changing calendars and sometimes I wonder how long calendars will be around. I'm more likely to check the date on my iPhone or iPad or computer than look at a calendar.

But this change was different. As I turned the calendar, taking it down from the refrigerator, lifting the year's photo of a herd of cattle staring straight ahead, and dropping December to cover November, I realized that this might be my last Bank of McLouth calendar.

Every year, Mom gave each of us a calendar as part of our Christmas present. Sometimes the photos are cute kittens or pastoral farm scenes, but often, as in the 2010 calendar and the cattle, the photo, captioned Crossbred Cattle, represents the business of farming.

The calendar itself is all about the business of farming. When I change the month on my other calendar, I lift the old month to reveal the new month. Not so on the Bank of McLouth. Instead of another pretty picture, the back of each month is an accounting form for the previous month. It's a working calendar. Lift the yearly photo and you can keep track of Cash Received and Cash Paid Out. The Cash Paid Out columns take up more space than the Cash Received ones.

McLouth, Kansas is my hometown. It's a tiny farming town in Northeast Kansas, population about 800. I graduated from McLouth High School in a class of 22 and I think I'm related to a majority of the population. My sisters and I went to college, married non-McLouthians and moved away. My parents retired from the farm and moved to Oskaloosa, but stayed faithful to the Bank of McLouth, an institution which supported them through good years and bad and their five daughters through college.

For many years, I made the four hour plus drive to Kansas to visit my parents once a month, help around the house, run errands and take them shopping in Lawrence and visit my sister, the Nearest Daughter, who has assumed with grace and dignity, the responsibility of parent caretaker. Every Saturday I visited, Mom and I would drive to McLouth to go to the bank. The bank is social center and Mom and I always had good visits with the people who work there and often with other people who came to do bank business on Saturday morning.

Five and a half years ago, my dad died and almost a year ago Mom moved into assisted living. We sold the house, built by my grandfather, where my parents had lived for more than 25 years.

Transitions happen. Some are easy; some are difficult; some take time to adjust to. The Bank of McLouth calendar tracks time and transitions. I wonder what transition the Last Calendar symbolizes. I suspect it's a significant one.