Staying Behind

Hi, I’m Jimmy. I was born into farm life. I always loved everything about my upbringing. My best friends were the pigs, horses, chickens, roosters, our cats and dogs and every bird I laid my eyes on. My favorite pastimes would be to sneak into our old barn and talk to the horses about my secrets, my dreams, goals, and aspirations. I always felt like they understood better than any human I knew.

I have 3 other siblings who all dreamed of the city life. I’ve always been fine right here. They still made the best of the time, and we would play around, but they didn’t appreciate the simple life the way I did. They would talk about what they wanted to do when they were older in the city. My sister Sarah, had big dreams of becoming a movie star. She always would pretend she was a different character everyday and quite honestly she was very entertaining, and had natural talent.

My older brother Thomas always had dreams of going to the city and becoming a businessman. He loved bossing us all around, and delegating different task, making sure we all did our fair share around the farm. I had a special connection with the barn, and I would ask him to leave any task that dealt with the barn to me. It has always been my sanctuary. He always agreed and gave me the space to do any task in the barn on my own. I was so in love with farm life, I honestly wouldn’t have mind doing it all by myself, and if it weren’t for our parents making sure we were all involved in helping out, my siblings would let me do it all alone.

My youngest brother Mark, loved technology, and his biggest dream was to invent the latest and greatest technology of any kind to help change the world. He was fascinated by computers, robots, programming, and the evolution of cell phones. He would even try inventing all kinds of things to help make farm life easier for all of us. We are all so different, but I love how we all are passionate about something, and I love how supportive our parents were of who we were and what we loved.

20 years, have passed and we’re all grown up. My siblings all left and went to live in different big cities throughout the U.S. Sarah, went off to become an Actress and lives in Hollywood, CA. She became the big movie star she always wanted to be. Thomas went on to become a businessman, owning Fortune 500 companies. Mark became one of the greatest app developers in the world. I stayed on the farm and took over for our parents.

I’ve been so happy and so proud of my siblings achieving their dreams. I’ve been more happier than ever to live out my dream by having this sacred place all to myself. When it’s sunrise, I’m up and eager to start the day. I go outside and I lay in the grass and I experience the greatest peace before I start all of my tasks. I talk to the animals, to the grass, and to the trees, and I ask what can I do to make today even better than yesterday. In the silence of the morning, I can clearly hear the answers whispering in my ear.

Every single day feels better than the last and I’m filled with joy, calmness, healing, and laughter. The animals have personalities of their own, and they always keep me smiling. I still eagerly head to the barn and talk to my best friends. I am so happy here, I dance, laugh, cry, everything I feel is in this barn. Sometimes it’s so comfortable being here I fall asleep. I’m now married, with three children of my own and I’m happy to see they love the farm just as much as I do. They also witnessed the secret magic of the barn!

Last week I get a call from my sister Sarah and she wants to plan a surprise anniversary party for mom and dad. It would be their 50th anniversary and they mean so much to us. I suggested having everyone together at the farm again and having the celebration here. After talking to my siblings they all eagerly agreed. I’m excited to catch up with my siblings and celebrate our parents being together for so long. They suggested that they stay a week and help out at the farm and get plans together for the celebration.

They all come out on the same day, and it sure is great to see them. They’re in their fancy city clothes and they all look so glamorous. The moment they get inside they change into comfortable clothes for farm life. Every single morning each of my siblings were up early, eager to help out with any and every task they could. It took me by surprise. I never remember them being so happy doing any kind of work out here. They actually made things fun and they helped me out a lot with all the chores. Every night I would set up dinner in front of the old barn, as we would watch the sunset and enjoy our meal.

The night before our parents’ party, we’re out by the barn having dinner and we’re catching up on one another’s lives. Each sibling, Sarah, Mark, and Thomas, expresses how they felt so accomplished living their dream and being able to live out in the city but they all felt pressured in their careers. Sarah, felt like the pressure for her to stay popular, to stay in shape and youthful, keeps her stressed all the time. Thomas talked about the pressures of keeping a Fortune 500 company and staying competitive, keeps him on edge. He rarely sleeps, and he hasn’t made time for family life. Mark is mainly battling himself, feeling he needs to create something that tops the last thing he’s done. With his reputation of being this great app developer, people expect so much out of him, and he struggles to live up to their expectations.

When they asked how my life has been, I told them, I spend my day happier than I was yesterday. I have a beautiful family, and I spend time falling in love with the land we grew up on. To me this is the best place in the world and I’m happy our parents raised us here. It became quiet for a moment. Mark finally said, “You know, I used to think you were crazy for wanting to stay here. I didn’t understand something so valuable that you understood at our young age, peace.” Sarah started to cry, and Thomas said, “Mark is right. We spent so much time in our childhood wanting to get out of here and go to the city, and live our dreams, we didn’t realize we had something special right here.”

I responded after listening to each of them, “Sometimes, the thing you run from, turns into the thing you run to.” Sarah figured out the secret of the farm and the old barn especially. She said, “This is where you have gained so much wisdom, because you spent time listening, and we spent time ignoring the precious secrets.” I just smiled. I offered them to stay as long as they liked. This will always be their home as much as it is mine. I must admit it felt good hearing that they finally understood why I loved this place so much.

Today is the day we surprise our parents for their 50th anniversary! I called them to come by and pick up mail they had here, and while they’re here, stay for dinner. They assumed it would just be me and my little family, they agreed. Once they came by they see our entire family, their friends, and all of their children together again. Our mom and dad were overwhelmed with joy! They were also happy the farm looked so beautiful after all these years. We all danced, we ate, we drank, laughed, and cried. It was one of the most beautiful days we all had. This was the moment of my dreams, and a day I’ll truly never forget.