Lucy And The Cow

Chapter 1

Lucy woke up so excited because today she and her mother were going to visit the farm! As soon as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she jumped out of bed and quickly ran to the washroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She had a huge smile on her face, which made brushing her teeth very tricky. Once she was done, she quickly dried her face then ran back to her bedroom to get dressed.

“Hmmm”, she said as she was trying to decide which shirt would be the best one to wear to the farm. Pink shirts, white shirts, blue shirts and orange shirts all started flying from one end of her room to the other. “I found it!” Lucy had found the one shirt she knew would be perfect for this trip. It was white with small yellow ducks printed on the front and back, and pink lilies in between the ducks. “This is perfect!” she shouted, getting even more excited now to see the farm animals. She threw on some orange shorts she had lying around and was all ready to go now.

Lucy ran to the stairs and carefully walked down them towards the kitchen where her mother was waiting with breakfast. “Mommy, mommy, I’m so excited! I just can’t wait to see the farm with all the pretty animals!” Lucy’s mom could see just how happy she was and that gave her the biggest smile she had ever smiled. “Well, dear, it looks like you’re all set to go. Before we go though, eat some breakfast so you’ll have lots of energy while we’re there.” Lucy’s mom placed two eggs and some vegetables onto the plate in front of Lucy and then poured some freshly squeezed orange juice into the plastic cup next to the plate. Lucy sat down and immediately began eating so fast that it made her mother giggle. “Now, now, honey. Eat slowly, the farm’s not going anywhere and we’ll have plenty of time to see all the wonderful things there.” Lucy moaned a little but she knew she had better start eating slowly or her mother would just keep reminding her to.

After Lucy finished eating, her mother started to get things ready for their fun trip to the farm. She asked Lucy to grab some blankets so they could have a nice picnic there too. Lucy was bubbling with happiness, imagining how wonderful the day was going to be. “Mommy! Can we go now? Please, please, please!” Lucy’s mother couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Yes honey, just as soon as we pack the car up.” She held Lucy’s face in her hands and gently kissed her forehead. After Lucy grabbed her mother some blankets from the downstairs closet, they both began bringing stuff out to the car.

It was so sunny outside, there wasn’t even one single cloud in the sky. First, her mother placed the cooler into the back of the car. The cooler was filled with water and juice boxes and it even had some popsicles inside! Lucy just loved popsicles, the colors on them were always so bright. Her mother put the blankets in next to the cooler and then she put a smaller cooler inside. That cooler was filled with fruits and sandwiches that Lucy’s mother had prepared the night before.

Now Lucy was just bursting with energy and couldn’t contain herself anymore. She started to skip around her mother, pleading to leave. “Please, mommy, please, please can we go now?” Lucy’s mother was going over a list in her mind to make sure she didn’t forget anything before they left. “Oh! Hang on just one-second honey. I just need to grab one more thing and then we can go.” Lucy’s mother went inside and grabbed her straw hat that was hanging just inside the front door. She placed it on her head and returned to the car where Lucy was waiting, very impatiently.

“Ok, honey, we’re all set to go!” Lucy joyfully jumped and went straight to the car door. Her mother helped her inside the car and then helped her put her seatbelt on. Then, her mother got into the driver’s seat, started the car and turned on the stereo for some fun road trip music. “Off we go, honey!” Lucy sat straight up in her chair and stared out the front of the car. She couldn’t wait to see the big farm with all the pretty animals!

Chapter 2

As they started to drive up the long dirt road, that led from the main road to the farm, Lucy’s eyes opened wide as she stared at a huge red barn. It was on the right side of the dirt road and had a big white sign on it that said “Welcome to the Farm!”. To Lucy the barn looked like it was a gazillion times bigger than their house! She was filled with excitement and couldn’t wait to get out of the car to start walking around.

Her mother parked the car and Lucy quickly unbuckled her seatbelt waiting for her mother to help her out of the car. “Mommy, the barn is so big I bet it could fit one thousand animals in it!” Lucy’s mother chuckled, “Just one thousand?” Lucy giggled when her mother said that and jumped out of the car while her mother held her hand.

She started looking around the farm and noticed there were so many other kids there with their parents. She smiled at them and they smiled back, some even waved at her and she waved back very excitingly. It was like a big trip and everyone was invited! She then noticed the brown fences all around the left side of the farm. The fences made different sections so different animals could walk around in their own part of the field. One section had some sheep and some had horses and there was chickens and pigs too, some even had animals Lucy had never seen before! She couldn’t wait to see them up close and maybe she’d even get to pet some!

Before they started to walk towards one section of the fence Lucy’s mother asked her if she’d like a popsicle. “Yes, please!” Lucy replied. “Is there any red ones, mommy?” Lucy’s mother unwrapped a red popsicle and gave it to Lucy with a napkin wrapped around the popsicle stick. “Ok, honey, let’s start over here in the section closest to us.” The sun was shining so brightly now that Lucy’s mother had taken her straw hat off and placed it on to Lucy’s head as they walked towards the first group of animals.

As they got closer to the animals some of them began to look up then looked back down and continued to eat the grass. “What animals are these, mommy?” Lucy’s mother looked at Lucy and said “We call these animals cows, honey.” “Ohhhhh, so these are cows!” Lucy said joyfully with bright eyes and a huge smile. “Well, honey, ” Lucy’s mother began to explain something very important to her, “these aren’t really cows, we just call them cows.” Lucy didn’t really know what her mother meant and the expression on her face gave away her confusion. “What do you mean, mommy?” Lucy curiously asked. “Well, honey, each animal is just a different kind of creation of life. They are just as much a part of life as we are. Sometimes we will give them names or labels but that doesn’t mean that’s what they are, it’s just something we call them.” Lucy still didn’t really understand what her mother was saying. Lucy’s mother could see that so she put it another way. “Lucy, do you know any other girls who have the same name as you?” “Oh yes, mommy, there’s two other girls I know named Lucy!” Lucy’s mother then asked an important question, “Are these two other girls just like you are, or are they different than you?” Lucy thought for a moment then said, “Oh, we’re all very different mommy. One of them likes plums and I don’t like plums very much and the other one’s favorite food is yogurt and I don’t like yogurt very much!” “You see, “ said Lucy’s mother, “you’re all called the same name but you’re still very different from each other. This is because even though your names are the same you’re all different creations of life with your very own favorite foods.” Now Lucy was beginning to understand. Even though we call an animal a cow, that doesn’t mean that’s what it is, that just means that’s what we call it and that each cow is just one more different kind of creation of life.

Lucy’s mother then asked Lucy to try something with the cow that was closest to them. “Try something for me Lucy, I want you to look at the cow in front of us but don’t think of it as a cow, just pay as much attention to it as you can without trying to think of anything at all.” Lucy listened to her mother and started to just look at the cow in front of them and to focus, with all her attention, on every detail of the cow. Suddenly she began to notice the individual bits of hair on the cows head. She could see that each single hair was just a little different than the one next to it. One hair was leaning a little to the left, the other one was standing straight up, and another one was leaning more towards the right. This amused her very much. Then, Lucy started to notice a slight difference of colors in the animals hair. The colors seemed to get brighter and clearer. It was like someone had turned a lightbulb on in the animal and the whole animal began to shine more and more. She then started to pay really close attention to one of its ears and the shape of the ear. She noticed that the top of the ear was a little more straight and then it turned downwards before becoming straight again and joined back to the animals face. She found this very beautiful and it made her smile. Lucy suddenly began to feel something she had never felt before, like she and this animal were connected. It was like there was an invisible string with one end tied to the cow and the other end was tied to Lucy. As soon as she felt this the cow moved its head up from the grass and started to look back at Lucy. Lucy then stared into the life in front of her and immediately began to feel nothing but love for this beautiful creation. Lucy realized that now her whole body was alive with life too and she could feel butterflies in her tummy and goosebumps on her skin. She had never felt so alive before! Her mother noticed this change in Lucy and asked her, “what do you see now, honey?” “I see love mommy, the animal is bursting with love and that made me burst with love too. It feels so wonderful mommy, it’s like we’re connected together! I’ve never felt this before.” “It’s because you just looked at this wonderful creation in front of you without trying to figure out what it’s called, or what it does or to even learn anything about it. You just looked at it, with very close attention, and saw it exactly as it is at this very moment and didn't decide whether it was good or not good. This is life honey, and each moment we pay attention to life the more alive and connected we feel.” Lucy’s mother continued, “if you continue to observe everything you see like this, by paying close attention to it, you’ll never stop feeling this way honey. You can even do this with sounds you hear, and foods you taste. Each one of those is a beautiful part of life and will make you feel more and more alive.”

Lucy and her mother continued to walk around the big farm and visited some more of the animals spread across the huge fields. After a little while they walked back to the car to grab the picnic stuff. They found a nice spot near one of the fenced in sections to lay the blanket down and had the most delicious, fun picnic ever. Once they were finished eating and cleaned up Lucy’s mother noticed the sun was slowly beginning to set. “Are you almost ready to go home, Lucy?” “Yes mommy, but first can I go say goodbye to the cow I met earlier?” Lucy’s mother chuckled a little bit then said, “of course, honey, I’m sure she would like to say goodbye to you as well.”

Lucy walked back to the spot where she stared at the cow earlier. When she got closer to the fence that same cow walked up to her and put its head up towards Lucy’s face. It was inviting her to pet it’s head. When Lucy started to pet the cows head she couldn’t help herself as she wrapped her arms around the cows big strong neck and gave it the biggest hug ever. Lucy whispered into the cows ear, “I love you so much! I’ll try to visit you again if mommy lets me!” Lucy then walked back towards the car where her mother had just finished putting everything back in the trunk.

“Did you say goodbye, honey?” “I did mommy, and I told her I loved her very much!”. This filled Lucy’s mother with warmth as she helped Lucy back into the car and put her seatbelt on. As they started to drive back home Lucy turned around and waved goodbye to the big red barn with all it’s beautiful creations.

When they arrived back home, Lucy’s mother began to unpack the car and asked Lucy to get ready for bed. Lucy ran upstairs and did all the usual things she always did before climbing into her very comfortable bed. As she did each little thing she paid attention to every little thing and started to feel more and more connected to everything around her. When she went back into her bedroom to climb into bed her mother came upstairs to tuck her in. “So tell me honey, what were you thinking about on the drive back home?” “Nothing mommy, I was just paying as much attention to as many things as I could while we passed them on the road. I noticed the beautiful trees, some red and black birds, and even the river we crossed over. It was so magical mommy, like everything I was paying attention to was also paying attention to me. It felt like we were just one big family! It felt like the trees were my brothers and sisters looking out for me and the birds became like my guardians looking out for what’s coming ahead of me and the river was like my happiness, always moving from one place to another.” Lucy’s mother was so proud of her little girl. She brought Lucy’s blanket up over her chest and then leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight, honey. Mommy loves you very much.”

As Lucy’s mother walked out of her bedroom she closed the door just halfway so some of the light from the hallway would enter Lucy’s room. Lucy closed her eyes to go to sleep and the very last thing she thought of before falling asleep was of that beautiful creation of life we called a cow but wasn’t really a cow. She still felt very connected to it like the piece of string that was tied to the cow and to her had stretched all the way from the farm to her bedroom. The piece of string was being held together by love and could never be broken. After that she gently fell into a deep, restful sleep and dreamed the most wonderful dreams.

THE END