Recently, a surprising and delightful thing happened to me at my office. I’ve struck up a friendship with a lovely woman who works in our mail room. Her name is Roberta. She makes her rounds, delivering reader mail and newly printed magazines and has worked part-time with our publishing company for just shy of a decade. We began sharing small treats with one another. She gave me a “bluebird of happiness” figurine for my office, I gave her a couple small potted plants, another day she brought me a sweet treat. Our friendship progressed, and we made it official on Facebook, as one does, when she made an interesting discovery which she shared with me. Roberta was my late-grandmother’s high school classmate! This world is truly filled with fascinating connections that make it feel oh-so-small from time to time.
This got me to thinking. Decades from now, I could make a new friend who is the offspring of someone from my past. Or, maybe my grandchild could someday befriend someone I went to school with. After all, your collection of years has no bearing on your ability to get along and share laughs and life experiences.
“Then people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.” This excerpt is from Reason, Season, and a Lifetime by Brian A. “Drew” Chalker. It’s dear to me and reminds me of the value of all relationships. My unlikely and fortuitous office connection came at a time when a bit of extra joy was needed. Undoubtedly, I am learning from my friend as well. It’s almost as though I’ve bridged the time between my grandmother’s youth and my present. Time has a funny way of not existing in matters such as these.
Albert Einstein said, “Time is not a condition in which we live. It’s a condition in which we think.” At Farm Collector, we strive to bridge the gap between past and present with stories and experiences. I hope you flip through these pages and find rare collectibles, fascinating facts and history, but more so, I hope these pages send you to a place where you find memories of loved ones and cherished times. I hope you are reminded of your first bumpy ride on your uncle’s tractor with your siblings, that feeling of success when you fixed an engine with your grandfather, or how tiny you felt walking down a row of giant steam engines with your mother at a farm show. I wish for you to be transported to simpler, slower times.
Please enjoy what we have prepared for you in this (and all the seasons) of our beloved magazine.
Until next issue
