The Incredible Journey

This is Chapter 22 from my soon-coming book, “Parkinson’s & Recreation 3 - The No Parkinson’s Zone” - The Incredible Journey

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. —Lao Tzu

Growing up, I had heard the story (or maybe it was a movie I watched…) called “The Incredible Journey” which was about two dogs and a cat who somehow became separated from their master and are stranded far from home, and miraculously make their way back. Little did I know that I would have my own story to tell of my own incredible journey!

The journey of and through life is fraught with moments of joy, despair, laughter, tears, happiness, sorrow, ecstasy, pain, life and death. The fact that life is a journey should bring us all joy, and any journey is best enjoyed when shared with another. As I sit here writing, I am thinking about all those who have gone through life and made it through successfully. Life has a way of teaching us to share the journey as when we were watching my dad lying on that hospital bed slowly fading away. Watching him breathe, many amazing and wonderful memories are conjured in my mind. As he stirs, I can’t help but wonder if he knows or senses what I am thinking and feeling. Watching my mom and brothers sit faithfully beside him taking turns holding his hand, makes the sadness of this part of the journey somehow more bearable. Watching my children and their children reaching out to touch him and whisper their “hellos” and “I’m here, Grandpa”, brings a wonderful aura of joy to the room. Having my wife walk the journey of life with me has been both life-giving and life-sustaining. I dare say, I might not have made it without her. In all honesty, this part of the journey sucks, yet brings me great joy at the same time. As I relive memories of my own journey, they intermingle with the knowledge that perhaps the joy of life is not the destination. Perhaps, the joy of life is found in the journey itself. My life has been anything but boring. Here is a brief story of an amazing part of my journey that involves the journey of another. When our journeys cross paths with others on the journey, be they people or livestock, I get the feeling that God is in the center of it all—like a maestro leading a grand orchestration that has become my life.

All of my early life included involvement not just with our horses, but with other types of animals as well. From the chickens my Grandma Jernigan used to raise, to the flock of domestic geese we kept on the farm; from the many dogs we had over the years to the cats that hid out in the barn; from the barn owls that lived in the hay loft to the rats that attacked my 4-H show chickens—I was constantly in some form of contact with all kinds of creatures. The animals I spent the most time with were the animals I raised as FFA (Future Farmers of America) projects, my show animals. There was my Charolais steer. And, there was Abby, my Hampshire lamb. But the animal I wish to tell you about now is my pig. I can’t remember this pig’s name, so for the sake of the story, we’ll refer to her as Petunia! Before I describe her, let me tell you why I even had this particular pig.

As I said, when I was in high school I was a member of the FFA organization. This program was designed to train young men and women in the vocation of farming and agriculture. We learned about the many different kinds of soil and how to judge which soil was better than another and what uses each type was best suited for. We learned all about the different kinds of grasses that were native to our area like little blue stem and big blue stem. We learned about the grasses that made the most nutritious hay for winter feed like alfalfa and sericea lespedeza. We learned how to operate and maintain farm equipment and how to conserve soil and water and the best ways to rotate crops. We learned about the anatomy and care of animals and how to keep accurate records of a farm’s operations and how to project crop and livestock weight yields. We learned which feeds were best for each animal, how to administer pest control and how to vaccinate for different animal ailments. We learned a lot about many aspects of making a living on the farm. And, we learned animal husbandry and how to judge, just by looking and touching an animal, which animals would improve a herd. This brings me back to the reason for this story. We learned about pigs!

Because we were required to pursue projects as part of our grade requirements, I decided I would like to raise a pig and train him for the spring livestock show in Muskogee. My agriculture teacher, Mr. Gene Ross, suggested we ask some of the local farmers if they had any pigs for sale that might be show quality. This couldn’t be your ordinary average pig. This little pig had to have potential!

After several inquiries, we discovered that one of my own classmates, Clifford Jackson, had some young pigs we might be interested in looking at. Clifford’s father, had raised pigs for many years and each spring always had quite a brood to choose from. So we went to see for ourselves, Mr. Ross and I.

To get to the Jackson farm, we drove north from our house to the section where my cousins lived. Instead of going left, or west, we turned right, or east, and proceeded over Cry Baby Bridge and two miles to the next section road. At that point we turned left, or back north, and drove another quarter mile to the Jackson’s, whose house was on the east side of the road. As soon as we stepped out of the truck we saw about fifteen little Hampshire crossbred piglets scurrying around the pig pen. As we walked through the pen, the mother pig, the sow, was being very protective of her babies and would only let us get so close. After several minutes, though, I had set my eye on a nice little female who was black on both ends with a white stripe around her girth. Mr. Ross also felt this pig had good muscle and length and showed potential of being a very good show pig. So I bought her for $25.00.

I then began the task of converting the old brick chicken house to a pig house! After putting hog wire around an area big enough for the pig to get some exercise, I built her a little feed trough out of two-by-fours and tin. I used an old trough my daddy had built from the inside of an abandoned hot water heater to hold water. And then I brought my new pig home.

I filled her water trough and her feed trough and stayed to watch her as she settled into her new home. Immediately, she began to root around underneath the fence to try and dig her way out! This made my dog, King, go wild. King, a beautiful German Shepherd, knew that I wanted the pig to stay put, so he decided it was his duty to bark until the pig moved away from the fence. The pig kept digging anyway! I asked my dad what I should do. Do you know what he suggested? Rings for her nose! Nose rings are metal wires which can be placed in a hogs nose which bring pain when they try to dig. After piercing her nose and being satisfied that she would not try anymore escapes, I went on about my chores and left her alone for the night.

The next day I went to check on her before doing all my other chores, but she was not there! Petunia had escaped! Can you guess how? My pig had jumped out of her pen! There was no tunnel I could find, only a place in the fence she had tried to climb over. After enough attempts, she must have worn the wire down low enough to make a running leap and she was gone!

As soon as I realized what had happened, I began an intensive search of the area around the pig house. I looked all around and through the bushes. I looked all through the barn and even walked the entire ninety acres of pasture in search of any signs of my pig. I even tried to follow her tracks. This proved to be impossible because of all the other animal tracks from cattle and horses that had covered hers. Then, I had the idea of getting my dog, King, to help with this search. Since King had taken such an interest in this little pig, I figured he would be the natural one to be able to track her down. The only problem was that I couldn’t get King to understand that I wanted him to lead me to the pig by following her scent. He would run around looking but would always wind up running back to me with an “am I doing good, Master?” look on his face. After many hours of searching, we gave up. Petunia was gone. In my estimation, this little swine would not last long in the wilderness. I thought she would probably get eaten by hungry coyotes or hungry farmers, whichever caught her first! So, I gave up on raising a pig to show in the Spring Livestock show.

After a few days, I had set my mind on other things besides my little pig. And, since I had given up all hope of ever seeing her again, the phone call I received a few days after her disappearance came as quite a surprise. In fact, I would call it a miracle! On the other end of the line was my friend, Clifford, whom I had bought the pig from in the first place. Can you guess what he was about to tell me? I thought you could! That’s right! He said my little pig had shown up back at his farm last night and that he had caught her for me. I was elated! The most miraculous part to me was that she had no idea where to go to get back to the Jackson’s. Since we had gone by road to bring her to our farm, and since I knew she had probably gone through fields and woods and crossed creeks to get back there, I was amazed that she had found her way back home. Before I went to get her, though, I fixed up a special place for her in the big barn. In one of the stalls that we had set up for feeding calves, I filled in the spaces between the fence boards with other boards so as to keep little pig from escaping. After moving her troughs, I went and brought my little piggy home. And she never escaped again!

Soon, the pig grew and grew and grew into quite a nice show hog. After the local show at Boynton, where she placed in the top three of all the pigs, I showed her in Muskogee. Even though she didn’t place in the top three, I felt she had done a fine job to have had such a shaky beginning.

It’s funny, the things you can think about when reminiscing about your childhood. It’s incredible the way God orchestrates the most random thoughts into melodies of grace. It was reassuring to watch my dad taking the next step in his journey surrounded by such a large and wonderful legacy of family who were his. Even the memory of Petunia’s incredible journey home reminds me of the way the love of God led me back to Him. It makes me long for and wonder what awaits me around the next bend in my own journey. All I know for sure is that, whatever lies ahead, will lead me all the way home.

Dennis Jernigan

Quote courtesy of https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lao_tzu_137141

Photo courtesy of

This is Chapter 22 from my soon-coming book, “Parkinson’s & Recreation 3 - The No Parkinson’s Zone” - The Incredible Journey

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. —Lao Tzu

Growing up, I had heard the story (or maybe it was a movie I watched…) called “The Incredible Journey” which was about two dogs and a cat who somehow became separated from their master and are stranded far from home, and miraculously make their way back. Little did I know that I would have my own story to tell of my own incredible journey!

The journey of and through life is fraught with moments of joy, despair, laughter, tears, happiness, sorrow, ecstasy, pain, life and death. The fact that life is a journey should bring us all joy, and any journey is best enjoyed when shared with another. As I sit here writing, I am thinking about all those who have gone through life and made it through successfully. Life has a way of teaching us to share the journey as when we were watching my dad lying on that hospital bed slowly fading away. Watching him breathe, many amazing and wonderful memories are conjured in my mind. As he stirs, I can’t help but wonder if he knows or senses what I am thinking and feeling. Watching my mom and brothers sit faithfully beside him taking turns holding his hand, makes the sadness of this part of the journey somehow more bearable. Watching my children and their children reaching out to touch him and whisper their “hellos” and “I’m here, Grandpa”, brings a wonderful aura of joy to the room. Having my wife walk the journey of life with me has been both life-giving and life-sustaining. I dare say, I might not have made it without her. In all honesty, this part of the journey sucks, yet brings me great joy at the same time. As I relive memories of my own journey, they intermingle with the knowledge that perhaps the joy of life is not the destination. Perhaps, the joy of life is found in the journey itself. My life has been anything but boring. Here is a brief story of an amazing part of my journey that involves the journey of another. When our journeys cross paths with others on the journey, be they people or livestock, I get the feeling that God is in the center of it all—like a maestro leading a grand orchestration that has become my life.

All of my early life included involvement not just with our horses, but with other types of animals as well. From the chickens my Grandma Jernigan used to raise, to the flock of domestic geese we kept on the farm; from the many dogs we had over the years to the cats that hid out in the barn; from the barn owls that lived in the hay loft to the rats that attacked my 4-H show chickens—I was constantly in some form of contact with all kinds of creatures. The animals I spent the most time with were the animals I raised as FFA (Future Farmers of America) projects, my show animals. There was my Charolais steer. And, there was Abby, my Hampshire lamb. But the animal I wish to tell you about now is my pig. I can’t remember this pig’s name, so for the sake of the story, we’ll refer to her as Petunia! Before I describe her, let me tell you why I even had this particular pig.

As I said, when I was in high school I was a member of the FFA organization. This program was designed to train young men and women in the vocation of farming and agriculture. We learned about the many different kinds of soil and how to judge which soil was better than another and what uses each type was best suited for. We learned all about the different kinds of grasses that were native to our area like little blue stem and big blue stem. We learned about the grasses that made the most nutritious hay for winter feed like alfalfa and sericea lespedeza. We learned how to operate and maintain farm equipment and how to conserve soil and water and the best ways to rotate crops. We learned about the anatomy and care of animals and how to keep accurate records of a farm’s operations and how to project crop and livestock weight yields. We learned which feeds were best for each animal, how to administer pest control and how to vaccinate for different animal ailments. We learned a lot about many aspects of making a living on the farm. And, we learned animal husbandry and how to judge, just by looking and touching an animal, which animals would improve a herd. This brings me back to the reason for this story. We learned about pigs!

Because we were required to pursue projects as part of our grade requirements, I decided I would like to raise a pig and train him for the spring livestock show in Muskogee. My agriculture teacher, Mr. Gene Ross, suggested we ask some of the local farmers if they had any pigs for sale that might be show quality. This couldn’t be your ordinary average pig. This little pig had to have potential!

After several inquiries, we discovered that one of my own classmates, Clifford Jackson, had some young pigs we might be interested in looking at. Clifford’s father, had raised pigs for many years and each spring always had quite a brood to choose from. So we went to see for ourselves, Mr. Ross and I.

To get to the Jackson farm, we drove north from our house to the section where my cousins lived. Instead of going left, or west, we turned right, or east, and proceeded over Cry Baby Bridge and two miles to the next section road. At that point we turned left, or back north, and drove another quarter mile to the Jackson’s, whose house was on the east side of the road. As soon as we stepped out of the truck we saw about fifteen little Hampshire crossbred piglets scurrying around the pig pen. As we walked through the pen, the mother pig, the sow, was being very protective of her babies and would only let us get so close. After several minutes, though, I had set my eye on a nice little female who was black on both ends with a white stripe around her girth. Mr. Ross also felt this pig had good muscle and length and showed potential of being a very good show pig. So I bought her for $25.00.

I then began the task of converting the old brick chicken house to a pig house! After putting hog wire around an area big enough for the pig to get some exercise, I built her a little feed trough out of two-by-fours and tin. I used an old trough my daddy had built from the inside of an abandoned hot water heater to hold water. And then I brought my new pig home.

I filled her water trough and her feed trough and stayed to watch her as she settled into her new home. Immediately, she began to root around underneath the fence to try and dig her way out! This made my dog, King, go wild. King, a beautiful German Shepherd, knew that I wanted the pig to stay put, so he decided it was his duty to bark until the pig moved away from the fence. The pig kept digging anyway! I asked my dad what I should do. Do you know what he suggested? Rings for her nose! Nose rings are metal wires which can be placed in a hogs nose which bring pain when they try to dig. After piercing her nose and being satisfied that she would not try anymore escapes, I went on about my chores and left her alone for the night.

The next day I went to check on her before doing all my other chores, but she was not there! Petunia had escaped! Can you guess how? My pig had jumped out of her pen! There was no tunnel I could find, only a place in the fence she had tried to climb over. After enough attempts, she must have worn the wire down low enough to make a running leap and she was gone!

As soon as I realized what had happened, I began an intensive search of the area around the pig house. I looked all around and through the bushes. I looked all through the barn and even walked the entire ninety acres of pasture in search of any signs of my pig. I even tried to follow her tracks. This proved to be impossible because of all the other animal tracks from cattle and horses that had covered hers. Then, I had the idea of getting my dog, King, to help with this search. Since King had taken such an interest in this little pig, I figured he would be the natural one to be able to track her down. The only problem was that I couldn’t get King to understand that I wanted him to lead me to the pig by following her scent. He would run around looking but would always wind up running back to me with an “am I doing good, Master?” look on his face. After many hours of searching, we gave up. Petunia was gone. In my estimation, this little swine would not last long in the wilderness. I thought she would probably get eaten by hungry coyotes or hungry farmers, whichever caught her first! So, I gave up on raising a pig to show in the Spring Livestock show.

After a few days, I had set my mind on other things besides my little pig. And, since I had given up all hope of ever seeing her again, the phone call I received a few days after her disappearance came as quite a surprise. In fact, I would call it a miracle! On the other end of the line was my friend, Clifford, whom I had bought the pig from in the first place. Can you guess what he was about to tell me? I thought you could! That’s right! He said my little pig had shown up back at his farm last night and that he had caught her for me. I was elated! The most miraculous part to me was that she had no idea where to go to get back to the Jackson’s. Since we had gone by road to bring her to our farm, and since I knew she had probably gone through fields and woods and crossed creeks to get back there, I was amazed that she had found her way back home. Before I went to get her, though, I fixed up a special place for her in the big barn. In one of the stalls that we had set up for feeding calves, I filled in the spaces between the fence boards with other boards so as to keep little pig from escaping. After moving her troughs, I went and brought my little piggy home. And she never escaped again!

Soon, the pig grew and grew and grew into quite a nice show hog. After the local show at Boynton, where she placed in the top three of all the pigs, I showed her in Muskogee. Even though she didn’t place in the top three, I felt she had done a fine job to have had such a shaky beginning.

It’s funny, the things you can think about when reminiscing about your childhood. It’s incredible the way God orchestrates the most random thoughts into melodies of grace. It was reassuring to watch my dad taking the next step in his journey surrounded by such a large and wonderful legacy of family who were his. Even the memory of Petunia’s incredible journey home reminds me of the way the love of God led me back to Him. It makes me long for and wonder what awaits me around the next bend in my own journey. All I know for sure is that, whatever lies ahead, will lead me all the way home.

Dennis Jernigan

Quote courtesy of https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lao_tzu_137141

Photo courtesy of https://pixabay.com/images/download/x-3770140_1920.jpg