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Fruit Flies and Bees
This is the story of two people that have inspired Pam and I for years . . . (I wrote this before we moved, and since we only moved about a mile, we still see Jim and Millie and love them to death) Have you ever pushed a wheelbarrow full of fruit flies and bees? As you know I'm a gardener to the bone, and people like me get all excited about things that most folks consider pretty bizarre. Our neighbors, Jim and Millie have this really old apple tree that is pretty close to our property line. This tree makes lots and lots of apples, but none of them are very good. But Millie just can't bear to get rid of the tree because she used to tie her dogs under the tree and now that the dogs have moved on, the tree must stay. I understand that, and neither the tree nor the apples bother Pam or I. But Jim doesn't like to see the apples fall into our yard, so he's always out there raking them up and putting them into the garbage, which makes the trash can really, really heavy. About a year before we moved next door to them Jim suffered a stroke and it left him with some challenges. He walks with a severe limp which leaves him a little unsteady, and he has one arm that no longer works. So everything he does he does with one hand, and he does it quite well. I don't know exactly how old Jim and Millie are, but Pam and I attended a party celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary several years ago. Since I make my own compost for gardening I told Jim that I'd gladly get rid of the apples for him so he doesn't have to rake and shovel them with just one hand, nor does he have to lug that heavy trash can to the road. So I park one of my big construction wheelbarrows under the apple tree and Jim rakes up the apples and puts them into the wheelbarrow. I'd gladly rake them for him, but before I can get out there he has them all picked up, working with just one hand. When the wheelbarrow is full I empty it into my compost bin. As you can imagine, but the time the wheelbarrow is full, the apples are rotten and nasty and the fruit flies and bees think they have hit the rotten fruit lottery! So why am I telling you this story? Because success of any kind requires inspiration and sometimes it's difficult to stay inspired all the time. I stay inspired by reading books, listening to audio recordings etc. But I also get very inspired just watching Jim and Millie These people are well into their seventies and could easily manufacture excuses to stay home and feel sorry for themselves. Instead, they roll out of the sack before 6:00 am and go swimming almost every morning. They do all of their own yard work except when they hand us the garage door opener and say; "we're going away, we'll be back in six weeks", and they jump in the car and drive 10,000 miles visiting friends and family. I know people that won't drive to the mall because it's too far! These folks amaze me. When I come home and see Jim sitting in a lawn chair surrounded by piles of topsoil, raking away with his one good arm, I think to myself; "I want to be just like Jim when I'm his age." Millie is an accomplished writer and used to write for our local newspaper. Just a couple of years ago she wrote and published "It's gonna be okay" ,a memoir of her life as a child growing up on an oil lease in Oklahoma. This book is a terrific read and Millie will happily send you a signed copy. Just send $14.00 to: Mildred Dennis Millie has traveled all over Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and who knows where speaking to groups and selling her books. Millie and I use the same publisher. If you have an interest in writing and publishing your own book this is the publisher that we both use and are very happy with. Publish your own book! Just click on the link to get a Free Publishing Guide from Author House.
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