Author Archives: Jack

“Yesterday I asked my daughter, “Does everyone in your class bring a snack for break time?” She said, “No… not everyone does.” I asked, “So what do the kids without snacks do?” Her answer broke my heart: “They have to work on homework while everyone else eats.” That didn’t sit right with me. So the […]

I’ve delivered a dead calf before. I’ve stayed calm, helped an older vet who didn’t have the strength, held the chains, pulled with purpose, and accepted loss as part of this life we live. But today… today was different. Last Thursday, our cattle vet came out to begin AI prep for Big Mama. Everything seemed […]

We didn’t go looking for him. Truth is, we were just out for a walk, minding our business. The world was doing its usual thing—cars buzzing, people staring at their phones, life moving fast. Then out of nowhere, this scruffy brown dog trotted up like he had an appointment with destiny. He didn’t bark. He […]

In the coal-choked hollows of Mercer County, West Virginia, 1921, nine-year-old Sadie Mullins walked each morning to the one-room Brushfork Schoolhouse with nothing in her pocket but a tin spoon hanging from a string around her neck. The spoon, dulled by years of use yet burnished by her small hands, was not a token of […]