Joseph Campbell says that if you are on the hero journey, people, animals and other helpers appear to help you and guide you along the way. Ajay Rubin is a total stranger, or was until he moved into our new farm a week ago to watch over it until we move in and help us with the work that needs to be done.

Ajay has started tearing down the collapsed barn. He moved three cords of firewood into the woodshed. He just uncovered another treasure, a slate patio – see below. He is clearing our existing barn of junk and wood to make room for the hay coming tomorrow. Ajay is a pilgrim, a messenger. Like me, he came to the country to find himself. Like me, he is drawn to rural life in many ways. He is searching for his way in the world.

I am fortunate in many respects. One of them is that I wanted to be a writer since I was five years old, and knew that is what I would be. I have never wanted to be anything else, never was distracted by any other choice. It took me a while to get established, but I’ve been a full-time writer for nearly thirty years, and I intend to go out as one. Ajay is wrestling with the nature of modern life – its complexity, technological pressures, corporate intrusions and political disconnections. He wants to have something to do with a farm, but has no idea yet what that would be. He is 30 and he has time to figure it out. He is on the hero journey also and our paths have crossed.

We are fortunate to have him. He is easy-going, funny,  honest, hard-working.  I am older, of course, and a parent, and I almost instantly began worrying about Ajay and wondering where he might land. He has been adrift for nearly a decade. But I can only be a friend, not a parent. I have learned this lesson.

Ajay would be a good worker for anybody. He will find his place in the world, in his own time. Like me, he has come here for a reason, and with a message and it will reveal itself in its own time.