Well, there it is. Finally. The last peanut that rolled out of the last combine after picking the last row in the last field.

It tumbled out Saturday, Oct. 30, at 6:17 p.m. Rolling out on top of the trailer, it moved a little left, a little right and came to rest in a small crevasse on top.

And there it is. Done. Finished. Over. Completed.

And all of us let out a breath of air we’ve been holding for six months.

We held it during planting, wondering if they were going to come out of the ground, how many would come out, and if we’d have to replant.

We held it in June when they busted out of the ground along with crabgrass, Jimsonweed, nut grass, pigweed, morning glories, wiregrass, smartweed and tea weed.

We held it in July when the heavens dried up, and the soil cried out for moisture, and the thunderstorms rumbled in the distance. Always in the distance.

We held it in August when the leaves became crumpled like old, brown paper, and it seemed the peanuts quit trying. There were no blooms and no pegs and no peanuts.

The spider mites saw fresh fodder and attacked. And the thunderstorms rumbled in the distance. Always in the distance.

We held it in September when the swamps dried up, and the river flowed backwards. When cattle ribs showed from lack of pasture, wells ran dry and beaver dams abandoned. And the thunderstorms rumbled in the distance. Always in the distance.

We held it in October when 15 inches of rain fell in three days and washed ruts and gullies and caverns across fields. It made tractors and combines get stuck over and over and over.

It rotted mature peanuts in the ground and washed dug peanuts in piles at the end of rows, but made those half-dead, clinging-to-life thirsty peanuts say “thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.”

And now, no matter the crop we had, it’s done. Finished. Over. Complete. The crop is in.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

After six months, it sure feels good to breathe again.

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