10/18/2023
Wow
Because there’s just something sentimental about this season…
After my brother Ben passed away I remember looking out at the farm through my Mom’s dining room window. My other brother Tommy was standing beside me. Generally when you ask someone a question you look at them, but in that moment I remember my gaze being locked on the farm, or what I could see of it through the glass of the dining room window. “What’s going to happen to this place.” I said, “Are we going to have to sell it.” Without a pause, a bit of anger, and a whole lot of confidence Tommy replied, “Over my dead body would I ever let anything happen to this place.”
Fast forward to today, in retrospect, I feel foolish for even entertaining that thought. You see, back then, I didn’t work on the farm, and so, I didn’t know the inner working of the farm. I didn’t see how hard EVERYONE worked, including Ben, to keep this farm running. My Dad, my Uncle Bill, my cousin Shane, my Mom, and a handful of dedicated hardworking farm hands from Jamaica worked, and still work (minus my Dad), nearly everyday from sun up until sun down.
Sometimes when you lose something it makes you appreciate what you had. That however, was not the case after Ben passed. Instead, I felt robbed, I felt a void, I felt an emptiness that I didn’t know how to fill. I wanted to fill it, I wanted to help, but I didn’t know where to start, I didn’t know what to do, hence the question… “What’s going to happen to this place.” I didn’t, at the time, know what Tommy did… not only was he willing and ready to work his ass off to keep it going, going forward, but also it wasn’t going anywhere, because while Ben was a huge pillar, he never stood alone.
Today, I want to recognize those who have contributed to this farm for as long as I can remember, My Dad, Mom, Uncle Bill, Shane and “the guys.” It may have taken some time to reconstruct the pillar that once was Ben, but with your support, strength, guidance and know how the structure never went down. I know now the inner workings of this farm, and while defeat is part of our vocabulary, so is resilience.
