Once upon a time...
Our story began years ago when Joey and I both had more in common than I had thought. I was driving to work thinking about how alone he must have felt to be in a pasture all by himself. Looking back, little did i know how alone I was at that time in my life.
I don't really specifically remember the first apple I gave Joey. I do remember feeling something pulling me toward him, thinking he might be lonely and could use a friend.
Amazingly he came right over to greet me and quickly realized what i was about to give him. A friendship began to form based on kindness.
Over the next few years, on almost every day possible, I gave Joey an Apple. Even when i was off from work, i would sometimes drive up and give him one because I knew he would wait for me to drive by in the rain, sleet and even snow. I probably should have gotten permission from his owners from the very beginning of all of this, hindsight is always 20/20 so they say.
After bringing him apples for several years, the unexpected happened one night. Joey was gone ! I looked all through his field and his run-In shed and there was no sight of him. His field was completely empty.
I wondered what had happened to my friend. I was worried he may have passed away.
So on the very next day i stopped and asked his owners, "Where's Joey?". They replied surprised, "How do you know Joey?" I told them the whole story and they said they knew someone was feeding him by the way he would stand by the side of the road late at night (When I would drive by after work and stop) They said they couldn't take care of him any more and that it got to be too expensive for them.
They also explained Joey was now staying at another lady's house. So I tracked my friend down and thought to myself, maybe I could take care of him.
For $500 Joey and I teamed up and started to get to know each other. The first barn we boarded at was in Goshen, New Jersey where we created the very first Manure Stand in Cape May County.
Joey put me on a different path in life that to this day would never have happened if I didn't give him that first apple.
My father says this when describing how i took care of joey...
"All this time you thought Joey needed you, but you needed Joey"
One Apple...
