FORWARD........................
The day my life ended and began was May 26 2004. I had taken a job working on a farm between semesters at college. My family was disappointed, to say the least, that they'd not be seeing me until the Thanksgiving break. But I couldn't have been happier. I came from a farming community in central Illinois, so the logical choice for my major was Ag. Business Management. Hoping to one day have my own farm/ranch; I worked very hard to make that dream a reality. Almost singlemindedly, to the chagrin of my friends who thought college was for partying and "hooking-up", I focused on my studies. In my free time I audited the Ag. Mechanics and Land Development classes. I figured, while not my field, a good working knowledge of the machinery's inner-workings would be beneficial added to understanding the effects of runoff and calculating drainage requirements for ditches and waterways. Once I felt competent in these I grabbed some time in the building construction labs. Now I felt at ease planning to build my own piece of heaven, ground up!
So there I was, a reclusive 20 year old somewhere in the middle of preparing for a life of hard labor and good sleep. About me, I played football from Pop-Warner through my senior year of high school. At graduation I stood 6'6" and weighed 335 lbs. A literal "mountain of a man"! Despite my size I thought I looked decent enough, not terribly ogre-ish. I remember I HATED my baby-face, so to appear more aggressive I wore a long, full beard and shaved my head bald. Mother hated it! As you can well imagine I was quite adept at being a lineman on both sides of the ball. Virtually all of my free periods were spent in the weight room, and my diet was nearly strictly protein. I was captain of the track, football, and power lifting teams. But despite my physique I was also a stellar student, 3rd in my class! I got all the required courses out of the way early on, and even picked up the AP math and science courses out of sheer boredom. Having worked my butt off, I thought it best to take some "slide" classes my senior year... Ag. They were easy, but I fell in love with the idea of doing my own thing, no boss, no commute. I once heard a quote that summed up my life's ambitions "doing your own thing, in your own time". I wanted, no, NEEDED to be a farmer!
Fast forward, I'm finishing year number 2, and rather than take summer courses again, I decided to get some practical education. I spoke with my adviser, and he set me up with a local farmer he knew needed help. I'd be working for room and board and a few dollars to fold. What I ended up with was so very much more.
CHAPTER 1............ HIRING DAY
0430 found me chugging coffee before I shut off my truck in front of a nice sized barn. I had been driving for 20 minutes, yet had only traveled maybe 7 miles from my building. Winding country roads had taken me to what, I hoped, would become home.
My adviser and I had spoken at length about what I was looking for, job-wise. I told him my dream of being an independent farmer/rancher. It was then that his eyes lit up just the tiniest iota, and he said he knew just where I needed to be.
"Mr. James," I said (that was his name, after-all), "I can't thank you enough! And I don't take a man's confidence lightly. I won't let you down!"
"Don't thank me yet Tom!" Mr. James said with a mischievous grin.
"This man you're going to work for is cantankerous and hard, but he is above all else fair. He won't let you give up and quit, IF he takes you!"
Both of us smiling we shook hands, me thanking him again against his wishes (Mother did teach me some manners), and he telling me to be myself and my character would see me through. I left with an address and a name in my hand, and a mysterious niggle in the back of my mind that something was afoot. I would soon find out!
That was a Friday. That weekend I drove to the farm and back 4 or 5 times, just to get used to the route and the lay of the land. I didn't want to make a wrong turn in the dark and be late on my first day. Sunday night I lay down to sleep at about 2000 to get up at 0300 Monday morning. After beating my alarm clock into submission, I rolled out of bed to go turn on the coffee and start my week. With the pot gurgling away I got in the shower and woke up instantly. Probably would've woken half the building too, if they hadn't already left for the summer. In my early morning stupor, I'd forgotten the water heater was busted! So it was 10 freezing minutes later, I emerged from the lavatory bright-eyed and shivering, I grabbed a cup and relished in the warming sensation as the coffee hit my stomach. Dressing in my standard steel-toed boots, carpenter jeans, and sleeveless shirt I loaded my belt down with my cell phone, multi-tool, and filled my pockets with a hanky, billfold, keys, eye drops, and lighter (hey! you never know). Fired up my old '98 Dodge ½ ton, and turned on the classic country station, the one that played Hank, Merle, and Coe. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I sent up a prayer for God to help me get one step closer to my dream.
0432 here comes a middle-age looking fellow carrying his own mug of coffee. "This must be HIM", I think to myself. "Well, no time like the present." climbing from behind the wheel of the, now rapidly cooling, truck I finish the last swallow of java, and head towards him. "Back straight, eyes direct, handshake firm.", my mantra is on repeat in my brain. As I get closer his face takes on a strange shape, then nearly splits in two as he starts laughing! "Cantankerous my ass!" I think to myself, only I could hear it above his laughter... "SHIT! Have I been talking out loud this whole time?!"
"Yup." he says barely forming the words for the smile on his head.
"Well. So much for confident, huh?'
