(Flying - Strawberries - Handyman)
Lucy lived in a house that was in a very rural area. It was about a mile back from the unpaved dirt main road, down an unpaved dirt side road. At the main road was an old and faded wood sign that read "Lucy's Strawberry Preserves" and sat right above an old, dented and rusty mailbox. If you were driving too fast or not paying attention you could easily drive right past it. There wasn't another house in any direction for at least two miles and her house was surrounded by fields of strawberries. Football size fields of strawberry plants around all four sides. She had inherited the house, the fields and the business "Lucy's Strawberry Preserves" at the age of 18 when her parents had died in a plane crash, where her father, whom was a licensed pilot, was flying with her mom when the engine of the plane shut down and they crashed. Both died immediately on impact and suddenly Lucy, an only child, was completely alone.
At first, she was not sure she could handle it, being in charge of a business. She was also not sure she wanted to. The day of the funeral, after it was over and the last guest had finished crying on her shoulder and hugging Lucy while they told her "everything will be alright", she sat outside on the porch steps, closed her eyes and let the cool breeze run over her - helping her to relax. She thought to herself that people could be so insensitive....everything was NOT going to be alright and she started to feel angry. Suddenly she heard steps coming toward her on the right side of the porch, startled, she jumped up, but when she saw Cliff, the manager that doubled as a handyman for the business, she relaxed and sat back down.
"Hi Cliff." she said in a low , semi-controlled voice. She was trying hard to mask the need to burst into tears. She didn't want to cry in front of the help, even if he was more of a friend than employee. She felt like it was inappropriate and a sign of weakness so she purposely didn't look up. Because if she made eye contact with a man that her dad had considered his best friend for years, she would lose her composure and end up sobbing like a child in front of him.
"Hi Lucy, Morning." He paused and then asked "So, Lucy, I am sorry to have to ask you this, but there are a lot of people who depend on this business they work for to provide for their families. So they came to me and asked me to find out if Lucy's Strawberry Preserves will continue under your ownership or are we closing the doors? I am sorry to have to ask this question right after the funeral, but I am asking because I have a crew of people that want and need to know if they have jobs."
Lucy looked at him. "What would you do?" Lucy asked.
"What we are already doing, our jobs - what we were hired for", he said. "The crew keeps picking, mixing and filling Lucy's Strawberry Preserves into our jars with our logo. The logo, I respectfully remind you, that your parents used for 19 years and grew this business from a single strawberry bush. I'll keep overseeing the crew and continue my handyman duties and fix equipment when it breaks. Nothing changes. Of course we all mourn the loss of your mom and dad, they were good friends to all the employees and I am sure they would want us to continue with the company."
"Then what do I do?" asked Lucy. She asked Cliff for advice for several reasons. First and foremost were his business skills and his ability to run a crew of people, both of which Lucy knew were not her specialties and she would have to rely heavily on Cliff.
He let out a little laugh and said, "You get the fun job of marketing the product. For the record, we are required to sell at least 600 jars a month just to cover expenses. Anything below that number and we have a negative balance sheet at the end of the month, and we have to use the business fund that your parents left."
"Okay," she said. "I have no marketing experience, but okay."
"Then step one is to get some marketing 'how to' information" Cliff suggested.
So that is what Lucy did. With Cliff's help, she kept up the business as it was and went and registered for her first Marketing class. Then she went to the book store and bought books on marketing. Then she took it a step further and started to get involved with Internet marketing. She took what she learned and applied it. Business was going so well, she ended up hiring four more sales people to cover different regions. Between the printed magazine ads, the internet and the new TV commercial, sales shot up to three million jars in the first six months, and two years later they were selling six million jars a month. Then Lucy hit the jackpot four years later when she started marketing to provide her Strawberry Preserves to large distributers. At that point, she was forced to hire more people and buy a larger lot of land to keep up. Cliff continued to run the business and no matter how busy, he was the best at running operations smoothly. Lucy and Cliff ran the business together, all the while realizing that they were more successful then they had ever intended to be. So when Cliff found Lucy crying in her office, he was stunned. He had never seen her like this. She had never showed any type of emotion. She was the most thick-skinned, shrewd and magnificent marketer he'd ever encountered. But, she still missed her parents and she still was alone. Cliff sent her home and told her to get some rest. He'd take care of everything so she didn't have to worry.
She was exhausted from working so much. She had also been letting herself think of her parents. She rarely let her mind go there, but when she let it, it made her cry to think they were gone. Every time, the thought of never being able to talk to them again, hug or kiss them was so painful it hurt to breathe deep and the tears wouldn't stop. She always thought, just one more hug and kiss - that is all she wished for, in every prayer and thought, just one more.
She got home and immediately laid down. Just as she started to fall into a deep sleep, Lucy woke up, she felt like she was being watched. But she convinced herself she was being silly and kept trying. The feeling got stronger and in her heart she just knew someone was watching her. She opened her eyes and was surprised and confused when she saw her mom. She sat up and said "Mom! How? Why?? How are you here?". Than she noticed her Dad standing behind her. She closed her eyes and opened them again, her parents still stood there. "I don't understand", she said, her voice quivered.
Her Mom moved first and came to Lucy and hugged her tight. Lucy still was not sure if this was really happening, but she could feel her mom's soft skin and smell her perfume. Then her mom took a step back and smiled as she looked into Lucy's eyes. Without saying a word, she put one hand on each side of Lucy's face and cradled it while giving her a kiss on each cheek. In a voice that was both soft and angelic, she said, "We are always with you watching, smiling, listening to you pray. Then her dad came forward and hugged her. He simply said, "We'll always be with you." Then they both seemed to float back and everything got dim and then the room was dark again.
She woke up the next morning and sat up thinking it had been a dream. She got out of bed and went to brush her teeth. When she got up she looked stopped and stared at the table next to her bed. Sitting there, was a bottle of her mom's perfume that she had never seen before and a note signed by both of them that said "We will always be with you. Love forever, Mom and Dad." She smiled, grabbed the perfume and sprayed it on her wrist and suddenly....she didn't feel so alone.