Lucky Charms

Last Monday night I was fortunate enough to work along side my Dad at the farm. These evenings are the one's I'll remember forever, long after the dust settles in my life. 

Dad asked what my blog was going to cover that week. 

"Hidden Treasures, " I told him, as we loaded the mule with fencing supplies.

"The kind in the ocean? What do you know about that?"

"No," I said, "The kind you find around a home place. Like, around the farm."

"Bull ____. On this farm??" he said. 

Oh Dad. Always a man of few, yet powerful, words. 

I reminded him of the story of the two-hundred-year-old Hoover "treasure" that was nestled on our property somewhere. 

Dad just shook his head. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

He was thinking I was a dreamer, a gambler, an optimist and likely had my head in the clouds - the ones that hadn't passed over Clay Township in three months.  He was also very annoyed that I came to the farm to work with my camera around my neck. 

"You gonna bring that stuff down here or am I going to have to come back and get it? 

Guess I have to come back and get it....."

We repaired fence for an hour before Dad brought the blog up again. I could tell it had been on his mind. 

"Jean. You want to see a real treasure? I've got one right here."

Dad reached down deep in the pocket of his work pants and pulled out a hand full of......trash.

I looked at the "treasure" Dad presented and looked back at him; was he being serious?

He explained.

"These pieces of glass aren't worth much to most people. In fact, to most, they're worth about as much as a penny post card, these days. But to me, each piece of glass here is a saved truck tire. It's a cow's hoof that I won't have to treat. This piece here is a tractor tire I won't have to replace. This represents a baby calf I won't have to pull from the cow to doctor."

I began to see the same treasures that Dad did.

"I guess, to me, these are the real treasures on this farm. The simple ones that save me time and money. And though none are "lucky" or worth much, or going to buy me a shiny new truck, I'll pick them up, with out hesitation, every time I see them. Every, single, time."

I left the farm that night with a whole new appreciation for the treasure I was trying to find in my own life. What simplicity had I over looked in the crazy life I lead? What had I discounted before because it didn't appear to be valuable to me?

I guess it's not the shiny, new stuff that will make you rich. Rather, it's the tried and true people and simple joys in life, the ones that perhaps we’ve over looked or taken for granted, that will get you exactly where you need to be.