Part two of the amazing day with my mom came after the encounter with the truant.  The McAuley’s have been around the Seibert area since I can remember.  They were farmers outside of town driving north about 4-5 miles.  Mr. and Mrs. McAuley were older when they had Dick and never had any more children.  Dick was privileged because he was an only child and got most everything that he asked for.

When he began to drive, he had a lead foot and not only got several tickets, but wrecked his car more than once.  He was known as the wild one.  Many years ago, his parents died and he was left with his own family.  It has been decades since he manifested his wild side and now owns and operates one of the most influential businesses in the farming community and surrounding towns.  Because most of the industry is farming, a lot of machinery gets damaged and needs to be welded.  Dick and his staff go to various towns around Seibert delivering his services to farmers in need.

Dick loved my mom and always loved to see her when she came to town.  When mom lived in Seibert, Dick would do whatever he could to help Mom when she needed anything.  I stood back and allowed the conversation between my mom and Dick to flow.  He was another one of Mom’s students in high school and you could see that he truly admired my mom.

It reminds me of another person in the bible that had a wild streak.  The story is found in Luke 15:11-34 and is known as the “Prodigal Son”.  The son wanted to be wild and live it up, so he asked for his inheritance from his father and went and spent it all on loose living until he had no more.  He came to his senses and turned his wild life into a life that was productive.  Dick was a wild one, but when you talk to him today, you would never know about his past life.

On this journey, there is never a point where we can’t turn around if our path is less than healthy and change history.  Wild lives can become productive and positively impactful when we recognize that the path we are on is a dead-end.