Need some inspiration? Read on...it's a true story, a messge of hope...

“The Cow Story”

This is a true story, and it happened to my mother and me.  Please don't feel bad for us, because this is a message of hope and something that you can share with someone who may need to hear it.  Or you may need to remember one day when you feel like there is no hope for your situation.  Trust me, there is always hope, with God...okay?

I'm going to try to make a long story short.  So I will start by saying, that when I was 14 years old, there were a lot of things going on in my life.  My mother had married a real lowlife sort to get me away from a man (my multimillionaire guardian, yet another long story).  Well, because of this man she married, we (my Mom and I) ended up losing every thing.  We lost our home, our new furniture, our clothes, and our beloved pets...EVERY THING!  We ended up at his parent’s house just outside Lake City, Florida.

Well, in February of that year (1975), shortly before my 15th birthday, her husband said that he had "found us a home of our own".  This home he found (if you can call it that) was not fit for a hobo, much less for a woman and her 14 year old daughter.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it; one good strong wind just might blow it over, condemned is putting it nicely!  It had a hand pump for water in the "kitchen", an outhouse for a bathroom (with huge dead rats in it!) and a "tub" but no "running water".  You didn't dare walk through the house at night because the holes in the floor (“floor”, now that is funny!) were so huge, and the walls, (if you want to call them that) had holes in them so big you could see from room to room.  These rats that were as big as full-grown cats would jump out of the walls at you, it was scary, let me tell you!  We had a wood burning stove to cook on, and were so cash poor, we were rolling our own cigarettes and sharing them. 

Well, this "man" took off and left my mother and I in that...place...for like three days!  We had no food, no money, nothing.  Well, I take that back, we found some popcorn in an old jar up on one of the shelves. (LOL)  It's frigging winter and we have no heat.  This jerk comes back in the middle of the night, with his lowlife brother to pick up his "things".  He tells me that he's leaving my mother (get this!) because "she's too good to him, he can't handle it!"  What a joke!  He took off in OUR car and left us there, 10 miles from the nearest town! 

So, we decided that we'd get some sleep (as if!) and then, in the morning, we would walk into town and talk to the sheriff about our plight.  He took us and got us some food, arranged for us to stay at the local motel (more like Petticoat Junction!), and made arrangements for someone to go pick up what was left of our belongings and put them in (drum roll please!)...the county jail cell!  (LOL)  A few days later, he took us over to this town called Live Oak.  He said that there was a man there that would help us. 

He dropped us off at the Sheriff's office and told us we would be okay.  Well, this asshole (sorry) proceeds to tell my mother and me, that if we didn't have a place to stay and money in our pockets by sundown, he was going to throw us in jail for vagrancy.  I jumped up out of my chair and leaned across his desk and said to him, "Mr., you are sitting in a elected official's chair, I promise you that if you have us arrested, knowing the situation we are in, you won't sit in that chair come next election, I DARE you to throw us in jail! That's not a threat, that's a promise!"  I then told my mother to get up, we were leaving!  Needless to say, the Sheriff didn't bother us again! 

So we set off to find "this man" the other Sheriff had told us would help us.  Guess what?  He was out of town on business for the next two days!  Boy, that sucked!  What to do now?  So, we began to explain our situation to different people of the town, and this really nice guy that managed the U-Haul rental place offered to give us a place to stay until the other man got back from his trip.  How nice!  Not so fast! 

We get to this guy's house and come to find out, there was a price to be paid.  If we wanted to stay at his house, I would have to have sex with him.  I was like "Dude, you must be smoking some really good stuff!  Because that ain't gonna happen!  We'll sleep in the street first!"  He said there was no need for that, that he had a better place than the street and he took us back to the U-Haul place and let us sleep in one of the U-Haul trailers for the next two nights.  How generous!  (Those wool moving blankets really suck by the way! LOL) 

We couldn't call our family, we were too embarrassed.  We couldn't let them know what had happened!  They would take me away from my mother for good this time!  And no telling what they would do to her!  They had made ugly threats about that once before, so now way!  But we did call about 30 of our closest friends, and out of all of them, only TWO would help us.  My best friend's Mother, in St. Petersburg, Florida and my best friend's sister in Ft. Worth, Texas.  They each paid for a bus ticket to Ft. Worth, and my friend's sister, gave us a place to stay until my Mom could get on her feet.  But that's ahead of the story. 

Now, the man finally came back to town, and sure enough, he helped us, just like everyone said he would!  When he closed the store that evening, he took us to his house.  He gave us a nice bed to sleep in, food to eat and use of his phone so we could call friends for help.  Now, here's where the story gets good. 

On the way to his house, we had to drive down this long dirt road.  The road goes through another man's ranch.  He raised Brahmas (you know, the cattle with the big hump on their backs).  Anyway, these cattle were in such horrible shape.  Apparently, the man who owned the ranch had gone bankrupt and could no longer feed or water his herd and it was huge!  There, lying on the ground were literally hundreds of skeletons and carcasses.  What few cattle were able to remain standing, were mere flesh and bones. 

I could not believe what I was seeing.  I couldn't understand how anyone could allow this to happen to these poor animals.  I always wanted to be a Veterinarian, so, it just broke my heart to watch this scene pass before my eyes.  It was the worst thing I've ever witnessed in my life.  Suddenly, a thought occurred to me..."Boy, I thought I had it bad, at least I can ask for help. I guess it's true, when you think you've got it bad, there is always someone else who has it worse!" 

I believe that God touched my life in a special way that day.  I learned a very important lesson that day, that no matter how bad our situation looked, it wasn't as bad as that.  So, the moral to the story is this: When things aren't looking so good for you, remember “The Cow story” and you will probably see that your situation probably isn't as bad as you think.  At least you can ask for help. 

If you meet someone or know someone that thinks their situation is bad, tell them “The Cow Story".  They may see, that they too, do not have it as bad as they originally thought.  My life was forever changed by that day and that happened to me over 30 years ago.  I will never forget the cows and what they did for me.  I hope they will help you or someone you care about one day. 

For me, because "they" helped me, they did not die in vain.  Their deaths gave me hope and gave new meaning to the word "problem".  Every question has an answer.  That's what problems are, questions that just need answers.  Please, feel free to share this with anyone you feel may need to hear “The Cow Story”.

With love and hope... Selina :o)

PS… I’d like to add that after watching that movie “March of the Penguins”, I began to understand how interconnected their story and the cows’ story is, really.  So, now, when things seem bad to me or someone I know or meet I say, “Well, just be glad you’re not a penguin or a cow.  At least you can ask for help”.