...to brushing off the mud...
(they get mud everywhere - they roll in it!)
Pause! Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to reintroduce you to Breezy, the horse! You don't recognize her? Of course not! Yet, not six months ago, I was under her belly, just like that, squeezing puss out of sores that littered and lined her entire underside. Yes, you are looking at the original horse to have gotten the pigeon fever last summer. No one thought she was going to survive, not even her vet. Yet here she stands. Six months ago, "She was the worst case in the entire county." (That is a true quote from her vet, about two weeks ago). Today, we are taking riding lessons on her. God is GOOD!
Anyway, back to learning to put on all the tack gear...
...and leading the horse properly...
...and then yes, finally, to riding.
The difference now is that the girls are learning to direct the horse - here she is pulling back to stop her.
And here she is turning her to the right.
The boy here is her Momma's four year old son.
It is nice to finally learn the other side of the life we offer to others. I feel confident enough in the managerial side that the horse riding side feels like an unnecessary and noticeably missing gap in my knowledge as a ranch owner. So, aside from me feeling good to learn all this, the girls, of course, are thrilled to finally learn to ride.
We are certainly being rounded out as people! My life in the sports arena seems eons away from my life in the horse arena. And my life in Africa, wow, that seems an ever fading part of another life, not entirely my own. Some people think it is sad when they feel the pull of 'losing' those pieces of their past and they try desperately to 'relive the good old days' or even go through mid-life crises. But I just don't see it like that. I'm not scared to lose my youth. Why not? Because I see it more like a giant puzzle made up of a whole bunch of beautiful, individually painted pieces.
At each stage in my life, I have worked on a a single piece of the puzzle, doing my best to create a masterpiece with whatever I doing at the time. Once it was Africa; once it was sports; once it was teaching high schoolers; once it was being an expert on micro-preemie medical issues...and the list goes on and on. Sometimes in life I paint some parts of a piece and they really don't seem to fully fit, but then that's okay, because I believe that means it must fit later, in the bigger picture, with the puzzle piece next to it. So, in my mind, as I let go of each stage, it is not lost. Far from it, it is carefully placed in it's proper place in the puzzle that is becoming the story of my life. Even as I focus my work on the next piece, none of my old pieces are less valuable to me; it's just time to make the next one.
I can't wait for the day I put the last piece in and see the beauty of the entire picture. And guess what? I'm glad my puzzle is not going to be one of those that is half blue sky. Don't get me wrong. I love blue sky and I am glad there are puzzles that challenge me that way. But for me, I am glad mine will be busy and varied. Even now, I can't step back and see what the tapestry is making. I don't have a clear picture of that yet, but I do know this - my life is colorful! The array of colors is astounding. They don't coordinate and they don't even follow a color scheme. But, now that I am thinking about it, I wouldn't have it any other way!
Well, that was a rabbit trail! :-) Have a wonderful day! God Bless!!!
