Farming is not for the faint of heart.

The long hours and unpredictability of the weather are enough to turn many people away from choosing it as a profession. Add in a heavy dose of rising fuel costs, aging equipment and the extremely high price of new technologies, and you can understand why farming is one of the most stressful jobs in America.

Darrin Davis, owner of Lakeview Farms in Lakeview, Arkansas, says there is nothing else he would rather do, though.

Louis Armstrong said, “If you ever get a second chance in life, you’ve got to go all the way.” The trick about second chances, though, is to recognize them.

For Margie Raimondo, there was no question when her second chance came: it was a clear morning with a gorgeous blue sky on Sept. 11, 2001, and in her hand was a plane ticket on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California — the flight that ultimately crashed in a Pennsylvania field after being hijacked.