It all begins
In the beginning…
It all started with a little girl and a passion for living things. The earliest memories I have were of asking my father why we couldn’t have a dog in our urban house that sat across from the community pool and was hemmed in by identical homes and small enclosed yards.
We moved to the countryside of Upstate NY not long after and my parents lost no time purchasing German Shepherd dogs, livestock and horses. I was elated, at five years of age, in my element, and unaware that I knew absolutely nothing about any of these creatures that I was soon to be caretaker of. I went about creating fanciful relationships with my animals, cuddling baby goats, climbing aboard my horses bareback in the pastures and satisfying an early inclination to OCD by meticulously cleaning the stables whenever I felt the urge. I was barefoot, wild and free those days, with long blond tangled hair that never was brushed and a carefree smile.
I wish now I had the same innocence I had then and the capacity to learn without being judged, critiqued or criticized. No one was there to laugh at me when I got bit on the neck by my first horse, a chestnut mare with a color-predicting attitude. Nor when I climbed aboard said mare after tacking up by myself for the first time with no supervision and the stirrup fell off, spooked the horse and I was promptly thrown, bounced off a fence and trampled. With no helmet anywhere to speak of. Ah. Life was good.
Maybe this sentimentality isn’t for you. Maybe in your world horses don’t communicate, children are to be yelled at and snow is an annoyance to drive in. If so, you are not obliged to remain here. There’s too much hatred and fear in the world in these uncertain pandemic times.
For those of us who wish to maintain a hopeful view of our worlds and of the goodness of people and learn without criticism by those around us this blog is just the place for you. So pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa on this gloomy December day, put up your feet and enjoy the ramblings of a farm lass who maintains that the world should be full of people building each other up and sharing their ups and downs instead of feeding fear and uncertainty.
