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
‘Little Miss Dynamite’ blew up the charts when she was only 12: The story of Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee’s name may not be as recognizable as some of the other music stars from the 1960s but when you think of Christmas, you’ll know her song, and start humming her catchy tune, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
When Lee, now 78, first hit the stage, she wasn’t old enough to drive but her powerful vocals steered her “unprecedented international popularity” as the most successful female artist of the 1960s.
Lee, whose voice defied her diminutive stature at only 4 foot 9, became a fan favorite when she was only 12.
Brenda May Tarpley, born in 1944, got her start in the late 1940s, became huge in the 1950s, and over her career–that started before she left elementary school–she topped the charts 55 times, earning the title as the most successful female recording artist of the 1960s.
When Lee was only eight (according to Rolling Stone), her father, a construction worker, was killed at work and little Brenda–who then changed her last name to Lee–became the family’s primary provider.
Taking care of her younger brother, big sister, and mother–a cotton mill worker–was not a duty, but something she wanted to do. She said that she was thrilled when she made her first $20, so she could help her family: “Even at that young age, I saw that helped our life,” Lee said, adding “It put some food on the table. It helped, and I loved it.”
The Atlanta-born chanteuse, called a “pioneer of early rock and roll,” by the Georgia Encyclopedia, achieved “unprecedented international popularity in the 1960s.”
But, an incredibly humble human, Lee credits those who helped her achieve her dreams. When Christianity Today asked what she thinks about being a legend, Lee said “I don’t think of myself that way!” She continued, “I’m just a girl who’s been blessed to be doing what I’m doing, and there’s a lot of people who’ve sweated a lot of tears and put a lot of life’s work into me to be able to have my dream. So, if I’m a legend, then they’re legends, too.”
In 1956, the young girl joined country star Red Foley for a show at the Bell Auditorium near her home in Augusta, and she belted out “Jambalaya,” by Hank Williams.
She was then signed to appear on Foley’s Ozark Jubilee, a country music show, where millions of viewers fell in love with the sassy 12-year-old whose talent was developed well beyond her age.
In the same year, Lee signed with Decca Records, and the next year, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and fusing country with rhythm and blues–highlighted by her hiccupping vocals–she recorded early rockabilly classics like “BIGELOW 6-200,” “Little Jonah,” and “Let’s Jump the Broomstick.”
When asked if–when as a young girl–she was nervous performing in front of large crowds, she answered: “No, not really. Nobody ever told me to be nervous. The stage always felt like a hometown to me because I had been in front of people ever since I was 3 years old, singing to people. So it was a very comfortable spot for me.”
In 1957, Lee earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite” for her pint-sized powerhouse recording of the song “Dynamite,” and in 1958, fans heard “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” a genre and generation-crossing holiday standard, released when she was only 13.
“I knew it was magical,” she told Rolling Stone.
Over the next couple of years, she charted with hits like “Sweet Nuthin’s,” “All Alone Am I,” and “Fool #1.”
Most of her songs, however, contradicted her experience as a young girl. Her mother didn’t let her date and she graduated high school not understanding the heartbreak of young love.
She was only 16 when she said “Love could be so cruel” in the song “I’m Sorry” and only 16 when she said “I want his lips to kiss me” in the song “I Want to be Wanted,” both back-to-back hits when she was still in school.
And when she turned 18, she met Ronnie Shacklett, whom she’s now been happily married to for 60 years.
Life on the road for Lee as a youngster had its difficulties. She celebrated her 12th birthday in Las Vegas and speaking with the Las Vegas Journal, Lee explained her loneliness.
“Of course, I wasn’t even allowed to walk through a casino, I was so young. So I didn’t even know what a casino looked like. They took me into the kitchen, then into the showroom. And then when my show was over, I was brought back out through the kitchen and back up to my room. Children weren’t allowed … in the casino area.” She continued, “There wasn’t anything to do in Vegas for a kid. The most fun I had was on the stage.”
Speaking on what she missed out on as a child, the award-winning Lee said, “Many times, I yearned to be with my friends rather than be out there on the road.”
Turns out she made new friends on the road, like with the music group that opened for her at a 1962 show in Germany. “I hung out with John,” she says effortlessly, speaking of John Lennon. “He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”
Leave a Reply