He always called you boy.

Even though you were 18 by the time you worked for him that summer.

And, you were always just a little bit scared of him, even though you really had no reason to be.

Maybe you were scared because he was an established community figure.

Perhaps it was because he had been extremely successful in his farming career.

Or, possibly it was because he never let all of himself out to you.

You had a good job with him. 

He was farming with the latest equipment, and, you were privileged to be the first one to break in his brand new 4960 front wheel assist John Deere tractor.

You found pure enjoyment running that rig, pulling a set of 9/5 sweeps that cut a 40-foot swathe behind you. 

He was switching over to mostly dryland by the time you worked for him, but he did have one quarter that he still farmed with flood irrigation.

The throaty roar of the 496 motor churning out water for his crop made you smile every time you drove out to check it.

And, that particular field was a mile long, which was another interesting feature in a community where most fields were ½ mile or shorter.

You got your share of cleaning out bins of last year’s crop that had turned moldy and stank enough to make your eyes water.

And, in the off time of farming, you and he rebuilt old two-cylinder John Deere tractors, which, at that time, you didn’t enjoy so much, mainly because you really didn’t have a clue what you were doing. 

Later, when you worked full time at the local John Deere, rebuilding engines was your favorite, because by then you knew your way around engines more or less.

He had two sayings.

One you heard several times, the other you heard only once.

Both left lifelong impressions on you.

The saying you heard only once was after you had forgotten about an auger down spout.  You pulled through and the implement you were using was too tall and clipped the down spout and tore it off partially from the auger.

When you found him, later, and showed him the damage, he said, “Boy, I expect a few mistakes; proves to me you are working.”

The saying you heard often, and frequently coupled to the end of some discussion you had been having was, “Boy, nobody owes you anything.”

At first, that last statement stung, because you thought he had seen something in your way of doing things that prompted his saying it.

And maybe he had.

But, looking back, you realize more than likely he was speaking from years of experience and hoping to pass along a piece of wisdom that would do you well in the years to come.

The saying, “Nobody owes you anything,” has filtered through the dusty glints of your consciousness off and on through the years.

And it has served you well.

And, once or twice, has stung as it visits you again.

And, as you have grown older, you realize that within that saying may lie the true secret to happiness.

Maybe that is why the statement made to you by a retired navy officer made you feel the way you did. 

You had thanked him for his service to the country and he replied, while looking you full on with long range seaworthy eyes, “You are worth it, buddy.”

Or maybe that is why the lady at the pharmacy charmed your boy heart the other day when you stepped in and before you were two steps in, she said, “Hello Mr. Les.”

You knew she was out here from the Carolinas, and you knew she had the familiar southern English and politeness to her. 

But you didn’t know her name, and you realized she had made some effort to learn the names of the store’s clients in a community where she didn’t know anyone.

That’s when it all sort of clicks in your mind.

It’s the things we do for others, and the things they do for us, that we don’t owe, that makes for the greatest happiness, both in your life and theirs.