Gracious Grounds

Cindy loved living in the city but always appreciated the peace and tranquility of the country. Every summer and fall she and her husband Mark would pack a lunch and load up their 3 children in their mini van and drive about an hour to a little country town where they would spend the day picking seasonal fruit (blueberries and peaches in the summer, apples in the fall). They would visit the old country store and buy fresh corn, beans and whatever else looked good. The family would have lunch and snacks as they drove up the road and enjoyed the fresh air and scenery.

Cindy knew this road like the back of her hand as her parents and siblings would take this trip quite often as she was growing up.

She always loved to see the bubbling brook with the flowing waterfall where they used to be allowed to bottle fresh spring water. Unfortunately, it had recently been closed to the public because people would leave litter all around which saddened Cindy. She was also very intrigued by the big white barn that was across the way from her favorite farm stand. When she was younger she would see sheep, cows, horses, chickens and a few other farm animals wondering about. That was one of her favorite childhood memories.

These days, there were only a few chickens scattered about as well as a couple of cats and dogs.

On this particular trip, as the family was passing by the barn, Cindy saw an interesting looking black cat heading toward the barn that looked like it was carrying a piece of paper in its mouth. She told her husband to pull over to the side of the road. There was something very peculiar about that cat, other than the fact that it was big and black. As Cindy pulled out her phone to take a photo, she could have sworn that the cat looked over at her to say "cheese" as if it were posing for a picture.

"Did you see that"? Cindy exclaimed "I think that cat just cheese at me! I'm going to ask if I could go into that barn. I've been wanting to go in there forever"

Although her family didn't see what she saw, they were excited about the idea of exploring the barn. As they pulled away to continue driving, Jace, Cindy and Mark's 8 year old son, yelled out from the back seat "Mommy, look at the cat now"! The peculiar feline was now carrying an ear of corn in it's mouth while pushing another with it's right paw towards the barn.

Mark drove a few feet away and pulled into the lot of the farmstead. Jace couldn't keep his eyes off the barn in hopes of seeing the cat again. As the family got out of the van , Jace tapped his mom and whispered " Look what it's doing now" Cindy looked over to see the cat rolling an apple with its paw and carrying a carrot in its mouth towards the barn. It was at that moment when Cindy called out to Hank, one of the farmstead owners and asked if she and her family could have a tour of the barn. Frank, Hank's twin brother and co-owner of the farmstead quickly jumped in and said" Oh, well Cindy, we don't really do barn tours. There's just a couple of old animals that can't really get around too well hanging out in there. You all can have a quick peek in the back window but we don't allow visitors in there. We don't want to disturb the animals".

Cindy was happy and anxious to see what was going on in that barn. What in the world was that cat doing?!?!

Mark, Cindy and their three young children headed over to the barn. At this time, their little feline friend was nowhere in sight. They approached the window and were totally amazed by what they were witnessing. There was a horse, a cow and two sheep all sitting on individual haystacks with piles of vegetables in front of them. The animals seemed to be old and sickly as they were all in sitting positions. As they looked on, here came the black cat with a stalk of celery in its mouth. It dropped the celery in the pile of food next to the cat, looked up at the window at Cindy's family, smiled, and headed back out to the farm. The family watched the cat in amazement as it made several trips from the farm to the barn gathering fruits and veggies for the worn out looking animals that resided in the barn.

After watching this unusual series of events, the family headed back to the farmstead. They were still in awe over what they had seen, as they were walking, along comes the furry hero and It looked like there was a piece of paper in its mouth. Cindy bent over in an attempt to pet the little hero but it took off running after dropping the little piece of paper. She picked up what seemed to be a small scroll and unrolled it. On the inside she found these words: Always be the help that others need, even when it seems impossible…

She shared this message with her family and they decided this would be a message that they lived by and a trip they would always remember!!!