Ten-year-old Glendella Ludlow got up and walked out of her new home in Tinyville, VA … her old home was bigger, and the people there would have said this was all a step down … living surrounded by fallow fields because of the restoration project being worked on in that section of town, and yet old crops' seedlings were still yielding fruit and vegetables that little neighbors could come and get …
Glendella, under the watchful eye of adoptive (grand)mother Mrs. Thalia Ludlow, went across the road into the field and looked across … some of her new cousins the Hamiltons were in the front of their house and across the road in the field, and she knew the cousins – Hamiltons, Ludlows, and Lees – were thinking of pooling their resources and buying that field outright. But the main thing was, they waved. Glendella grinned and waved and waved and grinned until the Hamiltons went inside, and then went back across the road and up to her new (grand)mother.
“You know, my biological parents and grandparents used to talk about Tinyville and the other more rural towns in Lofton County as being in the middle of nowhere,” she said to Mrs. Ludlow. “They are wrong. This is the middle of somewhere, somewhere that people actually love each other, and I'm glad I'm here.”
“And we're glad you came, Glendella – God always knew He was going to bring you into knowing His love through a loving family, and He did,” Mrs. Ludlow said as she embraced Glendella.
“Are we going to actually buy these fields here?” Glendella asked.
“Maybe,” Mrs. Ludlow said. “Buying somewhat messed-up land and restoring it is how the Lofton Brothers got rich back in the day, but it does take a plan, and while the present owners don't have the patience to be bothered, we don't know if we can take it on either, but we're working on it. We have the funds, but we want to do right by the land and what it can do for our neighbors now and also in the future.”
“See, I told you this was the middle of somewhere, somewhere that people actually care about other people – and Edwina is going to love having a much bigger garden to work in if we buy it,” Glendella said.
“Yeah, she would definitely love it,” Mrs. Ludlow said with a chuckle. “A farm field is a little bit different than a garden, but yeah, I can totally see her as a farmer, too.”
“This is great – I just thank God,” Glendella said.
“And we do too, Glendella,” Mrs. Ludlow said as she kissed the child on the forehead. “Go on and get ready for breakfast.”