The little black notebook

Catherine was galloping on her horse on the beautiful Australian land, the gorgeous orange sunset was behind her, but what she could think of was that how much she hates the mud on her clothes, and that smell of the cows that she has to live with every single day. She was a hard-worker. She grew up learning the work morale from her father whom she dearly loved. But since he passed away, she didn’t think there’s a reason for her to stay. She’s always wanted to travel, and now she couldn’t think of anything else but to get away once and for all, and forget about everything that has been too much for her to take. She didn’t have cash to spend on that lifestyle, so she was considering to sell the farm and move.

While she was galloping, she was thinking about all these great plans that she had in mind, when she saw the old cottage where she and her brother used to go to play when they were children, and they were always hiding stuff there, so she stopped. She opened that little black notebook that they used to message each other while they had to study at home and their parents didn’t look. She was reading the things they wrote each other and tried to not laugh out loud. This time she was laughing and crying at the same time. “I miss you, Bro, and I miss you Dad” – she said, then she started praying. Only she and God know what she was praying about, but somehow the pages turned, and she found a message from her father.

“My Dear Daughter, I love you dearly. I have a surprise for you. I know you’ve always wanted to travel. But you decided to stay and take care of me and to help me with the farm. I’ve never expected you to do that, but you have to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done. I know you like the treasure-search game, so let’s play. I will give you hints where you will find your treasure. Do you remember when I showed you where I proposed to your mum?”

Of course she remembered, she will never forget this story. If someone has the most romantic stories of all time, that can be her parents. So she jumped on her horse, Thunder, and galloped to the heart of the land, where there was this old tree with a heart-shaped hole on it. That’s where her parents had their first kiss when they were teenagers, and that’s where her father proposed to the love of his life. She was wondering where the treasure is. “Yeah, it’s a nice story” - they told it million times to her -, “but where is the treasure now?” She looked up to the sky. “What do you wanna say, Dad? That my treasure is my heart? Or that I wouldn’t exist without you two? I don’t understand.” She collapsed tired at the tree. She remembered once again. Her parents were sitting there having a romantic picnic when Jack dropped the question. She remembered also the picnics with her family, and how they loved it. They were happy. She stood up. Somehow she decided to check what’s in this heart-shaped hole there. “Hopefully not a snake” - she thought. She got a flashback of how her father told her to not put her hand into dark holes, because there can be snakes there, so one day she brought a porch, and her family were laughing. She was just waaay too curious.

This time there was something inside. A small box. In this small box there was another smaller box and a note. In the smaller box she found her mother’s engagement ring. She was looking at it motionlessly for a minute, when suddenly a teardrop rolled down on her face. Then she read the note that was next to the ring box, which said: “My Dear Daughter, do you remember where I taught you how to swim?” How could she forget? Her father taught her EVERYTHING. And she always felt safe with him.

Thunder was walking peacefully on his back with Catherine, they walked to that water where she learnt swimming. The sweet memories of her childhood were coming into her mind slowly-slowly. She sat down next to the water and started smiling. She was sitting there for a while, when she got a memory of her brother and her burying a wooden box of toy next to that tree there. “It was exactly that tree!” – she thought to herself, then she jumped up and started making a hole in the ground, when… she found the box. “I found it, I found it!” – she shouted happily, like there is some sort of treasure inside. And there was. It was full of beautiful memories, toys, some pictures, and between these pictures a little letter. She has even forgotten what the goal of the game was, at this point she was just playing for the joy of it, like in the old times. She opened the letter and another paper fell out of it. It was a cheque of 20.000$. The letter said: “My Dear Daughter. I love you more than anything in this World. I want you to be happy. Promise me you will always find the joy in life wherever you go. I’ve saved this 20.000$ for you to take the best adventures. Love you. Your father”

She was smiling and crying in the same time again as she read these lines. But she didn’t want to go anywhere else anymore, because she was at home. She realized she can have the joy anywhere, as that is within. So she decided to invest the money and run the business after her father.

“Wherever you go there you are” (Confucius)