I crave warmth + stories rich w history + feeling. Stories w heart.

There’s a story about a boy, his granddaddy + a sprawling pecan farm that’s one of my favorites. It’s a story of real love + hard work. It’s a story of deep appreciation for the earth, family + sunshine. It’s a story of friendship.

The story goes like this:

Every summer there was a boy who traveled many miles to reach his granddaddy’s pecan farm. Every summer the rows of big pecan trees greeted him, their branches bending with the rich weight of pecan nuts yet to be harvested. His grandaddy, too, would be standing there waiting, holding the boy’s overalls washed and ready to wear, grinning the familiar, happy I-love-you grin. 

During the day, the boy would work alongside his granddaddy climbing the big pecan trees, shaking them w homemade machines, collecting, separating, tasting + breathing pecans. Smiling + singing, whistling his way through the day. At night, the boy + his granddaddy would walk along the rows of pecan trees sharing stories. His granddaddy always had a new story about wild adventures, history, family + the love of his life. Funny lines of poetry, too. The boy soaked up all of the stories + poems, keeping them in his heart to share w his friends at school. 

As the boy grew into a man, his granddaddy became one of his best friends. His hero + his inspiration.

One day, the man traveled to the pecan farm + the trees greeted him w their beautiful branches, but his granddaddy was no where to be found. The man climbed the tall pecan trees, searching. He walked the rows of trees, reciting the poems + stories he had heard his granddaddy tell him during all of their summers together.  He sang songs.

When he reached the last row of trees, he still hadn’t found the man who meant the world to him. It was then that he realized his granddaddy had found a new, wild adventure.

The man breathed the crisp night air into his lungs + heart, looked into the dark, starry sky w his sparkling eyes and grinned his I-love-you grin.

Though he knew he’d miss his granddaddy, he knew that he was about to embark on a new, wild adventure, too.

————–

xo