I’ve seen sweet corn ready on the Fourth of July.

I’ve seen the sun setting over a freshly dug peanut field in a blazing array of colors as the smell of peanuts fill the air.

I’ve seen a calf being born on a winter morn from 10 feet away.

I’ve seen a woman — without uttering a word — gaze at me and say, just with her eyes, &uot;I love you.&uot;

I’ve seen 200 bushel corn.

I’ve seen a sow nursing 14 piglets at one time.

I’ve seen a bald eagle high atop a dead pine tree.

I’ve seen a child, with squinted eyes and open mouth and shaking body, rear back and laugh with all that was in them.

I’ve seen a 5-foot, 120-pound woman stare at a 6-foot, 250-pound

man and make him do whatever she wants.

I’ve seen a 9-year-old boy catch the first fish he has ever caught.

I’ve seen the gleam in a 90-year-old woman as she talks about the way things used to be.

I’ve seen a whitetail deer swim down the Blackwater River.

I’ve seen stars shining on a clear country night like diamonds on black velvet.

I’ve seen a black snake in a bluebird house.

I’ve seen a grown man cry over the loss of his brother.

I’ve seen the look in a farmer’s eye as he finishes harvesting the last row in the last field of his last crop of the year.

All this, and more, my own eyes have seen.

And for these reasons, were I to die tonight, I would die a rich man.

Rex Alphin is a farmer, businessman and contributing columnist for The Tidewater News. His e-mail address is rexalphin@aol.com.