On Monday while we were home from the hospital, we picked a shady spot in the front yard and celebrated my beautiful wife Joey’s first 40 years of life.
We celebrated it with family...
and friends…
and prayers…
and food…
and cake…
and gifts…
and horses!!!
When Joey was in her early teens growing up back in Indiana, she had a horse named Velvet that she loved so much.
I’ve heard lots of stories about how she got Velvet and about the wonderful times they had together… the trails they rode… the Halloween she was the headless horseman and rode from house to house trick-or-treating… and how hard it was for her when she was sixteen and Velvet passed away.
Joey’s talked about getting another horse for years and has dreamed of owning one again, but she is so incredibly responsible that it just never made any sense for her or us to have one… our life was too busy, and we didn’t have room, and hay is expensive, and lots of other really good reasons.
I’m not sure it makes any more sense today… but I think sometimes that life doesn’t have to make sense. And it might not seem like the best timing, but it is.
Because the best time to love someone and make their dreams come true is today.
Right now.
So, after 24 years of waiting and hoping, Joey got a horse for her birthday. She’s a seven-year-old, blue-roan quarter horse named "Blue Moon" from Texas and she’s gorgeous, just like my bride.
We were given two horses so that her horse would have a companion in the pasture, and so Joey would have someone to ride with when she gets better and feels strong enough to go riding.
So it looks like some guy in bib overalls may have to learn to be a cowboy for his cowgirl.
It was a wonderful day. A small celebration filled with big love.
By Monday evening, it was back to Georgia for more chemo and more radiation, and more hope of many years of riding horses together and watching them graze in the backfield as the sun sets.
PS: Our little Indy was pretty excited about the horses too. But I think she was most excited about the horse balloons for the party…
