The Dream

When my friend called me the other evening to let me know her husband had passed, it was so difficult to hold back the tears.  They were truly "a couple," and one I admired greatly.  Even though he was a believer and she is a woman of great faith, my heart broke for her.  Fifty doesn't sound young to everyone, but dying just short of your 50th birthday is young and becoming a widow at 50 does seem early.  As she and I talked briefly, both guarding our voices from cracking, she made a simple and eloquent statement.  She said, "We got to live our dream."

I have no idea if they are members of the "Other 1 Percent" or if their due diligence, good management, and land acquisition has caused them to be blessed of our Creator, self made "One Percenters."  Their children are now grown and married with children of their own, well on their way to being the respected successes their parents became.

There were two adorable anecdotal accounts the widow had shared with the minister who shared them through the service.  These two people were married two months after this gentleman farmer graduated from high school.  In a day and time of throw away relationships, they married at 18 and were blessed to celebrate a 31st wedding anniversary, this past summer.  First, was the marriage proposal.   After he got off work, he went to see the love of his life where she worked.  He waited for her break time, and they went outdoors.  He was a man of few words.  He said, "I'm going to buy cows, do you want to get married?"   The minister went on to tell how those two kids went to Wal-Mart bought her bridal set and his band, married, went to Branson for their honeymoon and after two days, said, "Enough of this, let's get our life started."

The second memory she shared was also one of precious innocence and strong determination, from her now more mature perspective.  When they got home from their honeymoon, the young husband announced to his new bride, they needed to talk about money.  She sat down to listen, unsure of what she would hear.  He told her he had a savings account.  She asked him what that was . . . He then stated he had $3000.00.  All these years later, she's laughed telling that story saying, when he said $3000.00, she thought she'd married Bill Gates.

Sunset on their farm

While most of their generation and the one before them chased "the American dream," those two 18 year old kids did invest that savings account into Jersey cows and land.  The dairy farm has earned them a nice living, but more importantly, they actually worked the land, tended the animals and as she said, "lived their dream."