A young boy asked his mom for the last $13 she had saved for food so he could start a business. A few months later, he took her back to their tiny, old trailer and handed her the keys to their new $2 million home.
Annie Byrne, a mother from Atlanta, believed in teaching her son, Simon, the value of hard work and determination. She knew this would help him grow into a responsible person.
“Who cares if my son and I live in a rusty old trailer now? One day, he will take me to a palace and make me its queen!” Annie, a widow who worked as a janitor and struggled to get by, often dreamed of a better life.
One day, a mother’s prayers were answered in the most unbelievable way when her son handed her the keys to a $2 million house. But she didn’t know what sacrifices he made to make her dream come true.
“Mom, when will we live in a nice house?” 13-year-old Simon asked his mother. “It’s getting cold, and it’s cramped inside.”
Simon’s mom, Annie, didn’t know how to reply. She had very little savings, and her salary barely covered food and school costs for her son.
“Very soon… we’ll move very soon,” she told Simon, holding back tears. “Now close your eyes and go to sleep.”
Annie couldn’t sleep, though. She knew “soon” might never come. That night, she sat by Simon, heartbroken, thinking their struggles would never end.
The next morning, Simon’s friends asked him to play, but he didn’t go. He couldn’t be happy knowing how much his mom was struggling. While walking alone, Simon saw a boy earning money at a lemonade stand.
“Wow!” Simon thought. He wanted to start a small business, but he had almost no money. He left disappointed, but then an idea hit him. He ran home, excited.
“Mom, can I have some money?” he asked. Annie was hesitant.
“Son, I only have $13 left. That’s for food until I get paid next week,” she said.
But Simon was determined. “Mom, please trust me. Just give me the $13. I promise you won’t regret it.”
Reluctantly, Annie gave him the money, curious about what he’d do with it.
Later, Simon returned with several packets in his hands. Annie asked what they were, but he didn’t answer and grabbed a shovel. She watched in disbelief as he dug up the yard around their trailer, planting seeds from the packets.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Simon smiled and said, “Mom, if we plant today, we’ll harvest tomorrow!”
At first, Annie didn’t understand. But over the next few weeks, Simon worked hard, watering and caring for the garden. Soon, the yard was filled with fresh herbs and plants.
Annie thought they’d use the produce for themselves, but Simon surprised her.
“Mom, we can’t eat this,” he said. “I’m selling it at a little stall I’m setting up. We’ll use the extra for ourselves.”
Simon’s fresh produce became popular. People loved his natural, chemical-free vegetables, and soon, everything he sold was gone quickly. As his business grew, Simon realized he needed more space to grow more crops. He expanded the garden and started growing fruits and flowers too.
As the money rolled in, Simon and Annie moved into a rented house. Annie even quit her janitor job to help Simon in the garden. Their stall grew, and soon the whole town knew about them.
But their success attracted the jealousy of a wealthy farmer named Alex, who couldn’t believe a young boy was doing so well. Curious, Alex visited Simon’s garden one day.
“How do you grow such healthy produce without chemicals?” Alex asked.
Simon replied, “People should eat food, not poison. We use natural methods to keep the plants safe.”
Impressed, Alex realized he had misjudged Simon. Instead of competing with him, Alex asked Simon to partner with him. Simon ran to ask his mother if he should accept the offer.
After thinking it over, Annie agreed. Simon balanced school and working on Alex’s farm while still tending to his little garden.
Their business took off. They started selling produce not just locally but even to neighboring states. Two years later, Simon saved enough money to build a new house on the same spot their trailer once stood. With Alex’s help, the house was finally built.
When Simon handed his mother the keys to their new house, Annie cried tears of joy. Her dream had come true.
“Simon, you gave up your childhood to make me happy,” she said, hugging him. “I love you.”
Simon smiled. “I can still play and have fun, but I couldn’t watch you struggle. I’ll always be your little boy!”
Though Simon was now successful, he never forgot the small garden that started it all. He kept growing the crops but never sold them again.
“We should enjoy the fruits of our hard work, Mom,” he said, laughing. “We’re going to eat this ourselves!”
Simon’s business continued to grow, and there were rumors
The Life and Career of Oscar Winning Actress, Sally Field
Sally Field, an actress who has won Academy, Emmy, and Golden Globe Awards, is well-known for her parts in the films “Forrest Gump,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Lincoln,” and “Steel Magnolias.”
The 76-year-old actress launched her career in 1965 with the lead part in “Gidget.” She has since made several TV appearances, motion pictures, and Broadway performances.
Field has also been open about her struggles in her personal life. She discusses her stepfather’s sexual abuse of her as well as her battles with depression, self-doubt, and loneliness in her 2018 memoir “In Pieces.”
On November 6, 1946, Sally Field was born in Pasadena, California. Her mother was the actress Margaret Field (née Morlan), and her father was a salesman named Richard Dryden Field. Her mother married actor and stuntman Jock Mahoney following her parent’s divorce. Richard Field, Sally’s brother, and Princess O’Mahoney, her half-sister, are both living.
HER PERSONAL LIFE
Sally Field married Steven Craig in 1968, and they had two sons, Peter and Eli. They divorced in 1975, and she married Alan Greisman in 1984. They had one son together, Samuel, before divorcing in 1994. From 1976 to 1980, she dated Burt Reynolds, a difficult relationship she discusses in her memoir.
She recounts his controlling behavior and how he convinced Field not to attend the Emmy ceremony where she won for “Sybil.” Reynolds actually died just before her book’s release, and in his own memoir, he called their failed relationship “the biggest regret of my life” in his 2015 memoir “But Enough About Me.”
Meanwhile, Fields said they hadn’t spoken for 30 years before his passing. “He was not someone I could be around,” she explained. “He was just not good for me in any way. And he had somehow invented in his rethinking of everything that I was more important to him than he had thought, but I wasn’t. He just wanted to have the thing he didn’t have. I just didn’t want to deal with that.”
These days, Sally Field keeps her Oscars and Emmys in a TV room where she plays video games with her grandkids. So far, Field shows no signs of retiring with her film “Spoiler Alert” releasing next week, as well as “80 for Brady” coming in 2023.
“As an actor, she dared this town to typecast her, and then simply broke through every dogmatic barrier to find her own way — not to stardom, which I imagine she’d decry, but to great roles in great films and television,” said Steven Spielberg, her friend and “Lincoln” director. “Through her consistently good taste and feisty persistence, she has survived our ever-changing culture, stood the test of time and earned this singular place in history.”
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