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QUEENSLAND, Australia — An Australian boy took lemons, made lemonade and bought himself a pony.
Since he was tiny, 7-year-old Sabastian Lucas had dreamed about owning a white horse with a long mane and tail — “just like a unicorn,” according to Today. He quickly learned that his dream was more likely to become a reality if he took matters into his own hands, and thus with the support and encouragement of his parents, Sabastian & Co. was born.
Sabastian began selling his own hand-crafted beverages from a cardboard box stand two years ago. Soon, he couldn’t refill the jugs of his signature old-fashioned lemonade and raspberry iced tea fast enough, and he expanded his business to include catering parties for friends and family.
“Sabastian probably doesn’t even know it is work,” his mother, Juliana Kent, told Today. “It’s just normal in our routine to work all day and to whistle while we work. And the harder you work, the bigger and better the prize is at the end of the game.”
Like any good business owner, Sabastian manages the most important details himself.
“It takes him an extra hour to put labels on the bottles,” said Kent. “They may not be straight or all the same, but I don’t mind. It’s all a part of him doing it for himself.”
Keeping his end goal in mind, Sabastian tirelessly mixed his syrups and drinks — collecting and saving every penny he could.
“The proceeds of his sales, plus his tooth fairy money and Christmas money, all went into a mason ball jar,” Kent told 9News Australia.
After two years of hard work, his parents were shocked to learn he’d brought in more than $3,000.
It was then that they decided to help him purchase his “unicorn.”
“It had nothing to do with the amount he raised,” Kent said. “We decided he had waited long enough, and he clearly wasn’t giving up on his dream anytime soon.”
Enter Tom Boy the white pony. Kent and her husband secretly purchased the Welsh mountain pony and had him transported to the stables on their property as a surprise for their little entrepreneur, 9News reported.
When Sabastian finally met his dream animal, he couldn’t hold back his tears of joy. Kent posted the emotional video to her Facebook page, and it quickly garnered hundreds of comments and more than 1,000 views.
“I felt so much joy that he was almost speechless and overwhelmed with raw, real emotion,” she said.
Kent, who owns a paint store with her husband, told Today she hopes Sabastian’s story will prove to kids and their parents that hard work really does pay off, and that nothing is out of reach if you’re willing to do what it takes.
“Activate your children’s dreams and embrace every little bit of the journey along the way, because they are children for only a very short time,” she said.
